The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, January 27, 2017 — 3

in the democratic process without 
the constraints of having to put a 
label on yourself like Democrat or 
Republican,” Jawad said.

Jawad also co-authored the 

resolution urging Ann Arbor to 
switch to nonpartisan November 
elections. At CSG’s first meeting 
of the winter semester, the 
resolution passed 27-5 with five 
abstentions and no additional 
amendments. It pointed out the 
University’s size makes students 
a key constituency in Ann Arbor, 
and reiterated the need for 
student civil engagement. It also 
mentioned students’ historically 
low voter turnout rate, which has 
been under 20 percent the past 
few years.

“Ann Arbor is one of only three 

cities in the state of Michigan that 
has partisan primary elections and 

general elections in November, 
Ionia and Ypsilanti being the 
other two, and … students, one of 
the largest constituencies in Ann 
Arbor, are largely unable to vote 
in the August Primary elections 
as most students are not on 
campus during the summer,” the 
resolution states.

Councilmember Kirk Westphal 

(D–Ward 2) agreed nonpartisan 
elections would be beneficial to 
Ann Arbor residents. He argued 
since most residents vote straight-
ticket Democrat, the meaningful 
choice would occur during the 
August primaries, when most 
students are gone, rather than the 
November general elections.

“Ten out of 11 members on 

(City Council) are Democrats,” 
Westphal said. “Part of the logic 
for nonpartisan elections on the 
local level is that more people will 
be making a meaningful choice in 
effectively a one-party town in the 
general elections.”

However, 
Councilmember 

Zach Ackerman (D–Ward 3) said 
a candidate’s party affiliation 
is crucial in communicating a 
candidate’s values.

“I believe parties are a critical 

identifier of values,” Ackerman 
wrote in an email. “While there 
may be no partisan way to plow 
roads or pick up trash, there is a 
reason we do not have to debate 
how we treat our immigrant, 
LBGTQ, 
and 
low-income 

neighbors.”

Increasing 
anxieties 
about 

recent price surges in off-campus 
housing for University students 
is one motive for CSG’s ongoing 
efforts to convince City Council 
to approve election reform and 
a stronger dialogue between 
the city and the students. Since 
the University only guarantees 
on-campus housing to freshmen 
students, many struggle to find 
suitable houses or apartments. 

REFORM
From Page 1 

site.

Two of the people on the 

list of roughly 150 come from 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan: 

History Prof. Juan Cole and 
Communications 
Prof. 
Susan 

Douglas.

Exposing students to all 

points of view

The idea of Professor Watchlist 

first came up this past summer. 
Matt Lamb, Turning Point USA’s 
director of campus integrity, 
helped start the list following one 
of the organization’s conferences 
for 
high-school 
and 
college 

students.

“We’d been hearing all these 

stories about professors lashing 
out at students or professors 
putting odd things on Twitter,” 
Lamb 
said. 
“We 
thought: 

‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was 
one place we could put all of these 
stories?’ It would be really great 
for students to see what’s going on 
at these campuses, or campuses 
they’re considering going to.”

Lamb’s main concern is not that 

professors have political opinions, 
but that they aren’t presenting 
both sides of the issue in the 
classroom. He wants to use the 
website to reach out to students 
and notify them of professors on 
their campuses who might not be 
receptive to their views, or even 
respectful of them.

“We know we’re not going to 

change the professors’ minds, 
but it’s more (about) getting our 
point of view out to students who 
are still forming their political 
opinions and might be more 
willing to listen to us,” Lamb 
said. “Professors are supposed to 
encourage debate. If a professor 
wants to present a liberal point 
of view, that’s absolutely fine, 
but present it in such a way that 
encourages debate, not shuts it 
down.”

“It’s an odd time we’re in 

right now”

In order to keep the site 

verifiable, 
Lamb 
only 
posts 

submissions 
that 
come 
with 

proof that the professor in 
question actually wrote, said 
or did something to attack 
conservative 
views. 
Douglas’s 

name is accompanied by a link 
to a commentary about an 
article she wrote for the political 
commentary website “In These 
Times,” in which she stated that 
she hated Republicans.

“I hate Republicans,” Douglas 

wrote in the 2014 editorial. “I 
can’t stand the thought of having 
to spend the next two years 
watching 
Mitch 
McConnell, 

John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell 
Issa or any of the legions of other 
blowhards 
denying 
climate 

change, thwarting immigration 
reform or championing fetal 
‘personhood.’ ” She then went on 
to say she misses the days when 
people of two different political 
parties could have respectful, 
impactful discourse.

Douglas said she found out 

her name was featured on the 
Watchlist through an email from 
a colleague. When she first heard 
the news, she wasn’t quite sure 
how to feel.

“It’s an odd time we’re in right 

now,” Douglas said. “On the one 
hand, you feel what the intent of 
this is. Even though the founders 
of the site said that their intent is 
not to suppress expression, clearly 
that’s one of the things they’re 
trying to do. And in these times, 
one has to take those concerns 

seriously. And on the other hand, 
I looked at it and was like, ‘I’m 
not going to take this seriously,’ 
because these people have never 
taken a class with me — they’ve 
never seen what I’m like in a 
class.”

What Douglas found most 

intriguing about the situation was 
that her article was actually meant 
to lament the partisan divide the 
country currently faces. The title 
she wrote was “We Can’t All Just 
Get Along,” but it was changed 
by her editors to “It’s Okay to 
Hate Republicans” — without her 
consent — before it was published. 
The title has since been changed 
back to Douglas’s original line.

However, 
Lamb 
felt 
the 

intention of the piece wasn’t as 
important as its content. And 
although he’d never sat in on 
one of Douglas’s classes, he was 
concerned with how the article 
might seep into her lessons.

“She said: ‘I hate Republicans.’ 

Well, okay, you can say that, but 
if you’re teaching a class and 
you have a Republican in your 
classroom, what position does 
that put them in?” Lamb said. “I 
know she said she didn’t like the 
title, but there’s still a line in her 
editorial … you kind of assume 
that creeps into the classroom 
when these things come up.”

Douglas, 
however, 
isn’t 

convinced her outside writing 
affects the way she teaches. 
And while she notes it would be 
impossible to know the political 
affiliation of every student in 
her classroom, she does her best 
to encourage them to look at all 
points of view.

“There are faculty whose 

scholarship often informs their 
teaching, but who can be public 
intellectuals and write about 
things that never come up in 
the classroom,” Douglas said. 
“I wouldn’t bring it up in the 
classroom because it would never 
be appropriate … When I teach 
a class of 300 students, I can’t 
know all of their political views. 
That just doesn’t happen. And 
I don’t care what it is. What I 
care about is teaching them how 
to think analytically about the 
media.”

Juan Cole, who is also on the 

Watchlist, was targeted for a 
blog article he wrote in 2015 in 
response to the Charleston, S.C. 
church shooting. According to 
Professor Watchlist, Cole asserted 
right-wing Jews and a culture of 
Islamophobia contributed helped 
inspire the shooter, Dylann Roof. 
Cole declined to comment for the 
Daily.

“Faculty have the right and 

duty to teach controversial 
subjects”

In the history department, 

Prof. John Carson, the director 
of 
undergraduate 
studies, 
is 

responsible for handling any 
curriculum issues that might 
arise. 
This 
would 
include 

complaints 
of 
a 
professor 

attacking or even not bringing 
up the other side of a political 
debate. Carson said he had not 
had any curriculum complaints 
in his two-and-a-half years as 
director, but the department 
makes sure students are hearing 
the analytical argument, not the 
professor’s opinion.

“If a student found something 

controversial, we might talk to 
the professor and make sure 
things were being presented in a 
scholarly way that accentuates not 
passions, but scholarly analysis,” 
Carson said. “And as long as that’s 
the case, faculty have the right 
and duty to teach controversial 
subjects.”

Carson was upset to see the list 

online in November. As a friend 
and colleague of Cole, Carson 
stood by him when he was added 
to a similar site, Campus Watch, 
in 2002, and he decided to submit 
his own name to the website in a 
show of solidarity.

He was not alone in this: 

Professors from all across the 
country submitted their names 
to the site in droves, saying if the 
purpose of the list was to target 
academic freedom and shame 
faculty who teach ideas Turning 
Point rejected, they wanted their 
names added, too.

When Lamb received the 

submissions, he wasn’t amused. 
He deleted the spam submissions, 
but said it didn’t deter him from 
working on the site. In fact, he felt 
the swell of professors turning 
themselves in only proved the list 
wasn’t a threat to their freedom at 
all.

“Professors would send in tips 

… which I think confirms our 
point, and dispels the myth that a 
lot of these teacher organizations 
are 
promoting 
that 
this 
is 

somehow a threat to academic 
freedom,” Lamb said. “But you 
wouldn’t want to be on a list if 
you thought this is a threat to 
academic freedom, so I just take 
this as an acknowledgement that 
they’re lying, and that this is not 
a threat.”

Communications 
Prof. 

Kristen 
Harrison, 
the 

department’s associate director 
of undergraduate studies, agreed 
with Lamb that the list probably 
isn’t a threat to anyone’s freedom. 
However, she did see it as a way 
to scare professors out of sharing 
certain ideas — albeit a way that is 
probably futile.

“The Professor Watchlist is 

an intimidation tactic,” Harrison 
said. “There’s nothing to watch 
… professors are usually a pretty 
benign group, and our most 
radical actions are written down. 
And so you go into the library 
and find a book and say ‘Wow, 
I disagree with that,’ and that’s 
pretty much the best way to resist 
our ideas.”

LSA junior Collin Kelly, the 

chair of the University’s chapter 
of College Democrats, also felt 
the list isn’t going to accomplish 
much, and his professors seem 
to be making every effort to 
encourage debate and differing 
viewpoints.

“Every professor I’ve had has 

gone out of their way to advocate 
for both sides, and make sure 
they weren’t taking one side of 
the story or the other,” Kelly 
said. “Then again, I don’t identify 
as conservative … But calling 
(professors) out without trying 
to create some sort of dialogue 
seems very shortsighted and kind 
of inflammatory.”

Zalamea said he’s never had 

a problem with any professors 
discouraging his beliefs, and he 
hasn’t heard of that happening 
to any of his classmates, either. 
In fact, he feels he can still make 
meaningful relationships with 
professors, even when they don’t 
share his opinions. He said he 
wouldn’t use the list to avoid 
certain professors or classes, 
though he doesn’t necessarily 
think it’s a bad idea.

“If you’re a student who thinks 

it’s so important to take a class 
where the professor aligns with 
your political views, it helps,” 
Zalamea said. “I don’t think it 
necessarily reflects a division, 
but it reflects being on a liberal 
campus and wanting to be with 
people who share your political 
beliefs.”

WATCHLIST
From Page 1

Terry McDonald, director of the 
Bentley Historical Library, said the 
development of the process is part 
of a larger national conversation 
on controversial building names 
and legacies on college campuses. 
In 2015, Georgetown University 
renamed two buildings originally 
named for school presidents who 
sold slaves to settle debts, while 
Yale University came under fire last 
summer for housing students in a 
residence hall named after John C. 
Calhoun, one of the most prominent 
defenders of slavery in the decades 
preceding the Civil War.

“There has been a tremendous 

national consideration of questions 
about whether or not buildings 
should be named after people whose 
actions in their own time were 
controversial,” 
McDonald 
said. 

“One important context of this is 
the national reconsideration of what 
it means when you memorialize 
someone on your campus, which is 
different than teaching history or 

something like that.”

Any member of the University 

community can submit a proposal 
to the president to change the name 
of a building. The president then 
decides whether to refer the case 
to the committee. The committee 
developed several guiding principles 
with which they may evaluate 
the proposal including pedagogy, 
interpretation, due diligence and 
consistency.

McDonald 
specifically 

highlighted 
the 
principle 
of 

pedagogy, which maintains that 
the names of University buildings 
should allow students to learn 
about history and people who have 
contributed to the school.

“Every name is a teachable 

moment,” he said. “Our question 
is: ‘What is it that this name 
teaches on this campus? Why 
would that name be important to 
be remembered?’”

Former Physics Prof. Jens Zorn 

wrote in an email interview he 
disagrees with the former Dennison 
Building’s name switch to Weiser 
Hall in 2014 after a significant 
donation from Regent Ron Weiser.

“My main issue is that we are 

diminishing the history of our 
University by entirely removing the 
name of an honored, distinguished 
professor from a building that 
has carried that name for many 
decades,” Zorn wrote.

The high-rise section of the 

building is undergoing a renovation 
and will no longer be used for 
physics studies like it was in the past, 
while the lower portion will remain 
unchanged.

Zorn wrote he agrees with 

changing the name of the high-rise 
portion to Weiser to recognize the 
donor. However, he opposes the 
name change of the lower portion of 
the building, seeing as that portion is 
not undergoing a change.

“The low-rise portion is clearly 

separate; its appearance is not 
being altered,” he wrote. “Its use for 
physics education remains much as 
it was for many years. My colleagues 
and I believe that the low-rise 
building should retain the Dennison 
name. 

RENAMING
From Page 1

— where people come from, their 
ethnic heritage, what their interests 
are, sexual orientation — I want 
students to see the Musical Society 
as part of what they can be proud 
of,” Fischer said. “We want students 
to come and learn about the world 
by experiencing what it is we bring 
to the stage.”

When Aaron Dworkin, dean 

of the School of Music, Theatre 
& Dance, was a student at the 
University, Fischer was a mentor 
in his career-building. Dworkin 
said he benefitted in his personal 
professional development, as well 
as organizational benefits, from 
Fischer’s leadership once he became 
dean.

“It’s incredibly honoring and 

exciting to be part of bringing 
some voice to this new transition,” 

Dworkin said. “I’m so excited that 
Matthew will succeed. No one 
can replace Ken, but someone can 
succeed Ken. As I think around the 
world, I can think of no one better.”

VanBesien 
echoed 
Dworkin’s 

sentiments. 

“I think item number one is to 

uphold a legacy of Ken and all that 
he has done during his time there,” 
VanBesien said. “The UMS team 
is staggeringly good. They’re great 
colleagues, they’re great people and 
are great at what they do. So what 
I hope to bring to the equation is 
some additional perspectives from 
my own career — not only work and 
think creatively together about what 
the next chapter for UMS will be, 
but what it’ll be for the University 
of Michigan, for Ann Arbor and 
southeast Michigan.”

Fischer 
emphasized 
the 

alignment of VanBesien’s vision 
with UMS’s goals.

“The Music Society is the oldest 

of our kind in the country at 138 
years,” Fischer said. “His (New 
York Philharmonic) is the oldest 
orchestra in this country, so he has 
great appreciation for tradition. 
But he’s an innovator — he’s done 
interesting things with the New 
York Philharmonic and now he’s 
going to want to do the same sorts of 
things here and that’s what excites 
me.”

Music, Theatre & Dance junior 

Joshua 
Devries 
studies 
cello 

performance at the University and 
spoke about the new opportunities 
VanBesien’s leadership will bring.

“The New York Philharmonic 

is heavily involved in educational 
opportunities 
throughout 
New 

York, so knowing that the new 
UMS (director) will have those 
experiences 
and 
bring 
that 

perspective to UMS is a good sign,” 
Devries said.

UMS
From Page 1

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Brown said incoming freshmen 

in each new student orientation last 
summer as well as fall orientation 
learned the protocol.

Many students, however, still 

don’t feel prepared. LSA freshman 
Sam Allen was not sure about the 
proper response in an active shooter 
situation, 
despite 
having 
gone 

through the training last summer.

“Honestly, I’m not sure about 

the official protocol,” she said. “I 
feel like there is a general idea of 
staying hidden, but I wouldn’t have 
any official plan if I found myself in a 
situation that. I guess I haven’t really 
thought about it.”

Research released by the Harvard 

School of Public Health faculty in 
2015 found mass public shootings 
have steadily increased over the last 
five years. According to Everytown, 
a gun safety lobbying group, there 
have been more than 200 school 
shootings since 2013, 47 percent 
of which took place on college or 
university campuses.

DPSS 
has 
updated 
its 

presentations as recently as last 
semester to include more training 
materials. Additions include a UM 
active 
shooter 
response 
video, 

available on the DPSS website, that 
details how to appropriately respond 
to an active shooter situation, as well 
as revisions to the postcard that 
highlights the basics of response 
protocol.

Amir 
Baghdadchi, 

communications director for the 
University Housing Administration, 
said residence hall student staff 
receive training on how to respond 
to an active shooter situation 
through the DPSS Building Incident 
Response Team. The training also 
teaches residential staff how to 
respond to a variety of emergency 
situations. BIRT also offers a 
refresher course in emergency 
situation response, which is offered 
in the winter term.

“BIRT training discusses safety 

(and) security for the staff and 
residents 
using 
best 
practices 

from emergency first response 
disciplines,” Baghdadchi said. “All 
training is conducted by DPSS 
officers and DPSS Community 
Liaisons.”

Staff 
units 
make 
up 
a 

majority 
of 
the 
presentation 

requests, 
but 
presentations 

are also popular among large 
student 
organizations. 
Safety 

presentations 
are 
currently 

optional and by request only, 
but DPSS Chief of Police Robert 
Neumann encourages all students, 
faculty and staff to be informed, 
either by viewing the website and 
video information or attending an 
in-person presentation.

“Immediate, decisive action 

on the part of those facing such a 
situation saves lives, and excellent 
training is easily accessible,” 
Neumann said.

Neumann also warns students 

to remain vigilant and prepared 
for any possibility, either on- or 
off-campus.

“It is an unfortunate reality that 

we as individuals and a community 
need to think of preparation for 
active violence events in much 
the way we do for fires and severe 
weather,” Neumann said. “While 
the chances of one facing such a 
situation are very remote, they 
can occur at any time, in any 
place, with little or no warning.

TRAINING
From Page 1