The
Senate
Advisory
Committee
on
University
Affairs met Monday evening
to discuss working rights
of
graduate
students
on
visas
and
the
University
of
Michigan’s
policy
on
transgender bathroom rights.
The committee was joined
by
Interim
Provost
Paul
Courant
and
John
Ware,
president of the Graduate
Employees’ Organization at
the University, who reached
out to SACUA for support
in
the
GEO’s
fight
for
increased working rights. The
conversation began with a
statement from Ware, asking
for support from SACUA in his
organization’s
negotiations
with Human Resources at the
University for a new three-
year contract.
The
GEO’s
principal
concern has to do with the
number of hours graduate
student
instructors
are
permitted
to
work
each
week. As Ware explained to
SACUA, students on certain
visas — including the F-1 visa,
which 30 percent of graduate
students are on — can work
a maximum of 20 paid hours
per week during the academic
term.
“The important issue is
the fluctuations,” Ware said.
“Typically, how that happens
is there’s some more intense
period of work during the
term. For example, there’s
an exam, some assignment
due, and there’s a desire
for that to be graded and
turned around quickly, so
there’s some work to do in
the week following that. And
that presents a problem for
international GSIs, because
our current contract allows
their supervisors to ask them
to work in a way which puts
them in violation of their
visas.”
According to Ware, the
GEO would like this 20-hour
restriction to be applied to all
GSIs, not only those on visas.
The committee broke into a
discussion of whether it was
fair to extend the regulation
to all GSIs. David Wright,
SACUA member and Ross
School of Business professor,
began
by
expressing
his
worries about the policy.
“I’m
always
a
little
concerned when we impose
a
regulation
on
everyone
that only affects 30 percent,”
Wright said. “By definition,
we’ll be putting a constraint
on the 70 percent which can’t
work in their favor, because
unregulated is always better
than regulated.”
Ware responded to Wright’s
In recent years, researchers
have discovered certain genetic
mutations
are
now
linked
with serious diseases in men,
including prostate cancer. These
genetic mutations, referred to
as BRCA1 and BRCA2, were
previously
thought
solely
to
increase a patient’s risk of breast
cancer. This recent discovery has
prompted doctors at Michigan
Medicine, formerly the University
of Michigan Health System, and
specifically urological surgeon
Todd Morgan, to develop the
Prostate Cancer Risk Clinic — the
first of its kind.
In 2012, the U.S. Preventive
Services Task Force, a group
of national experts that gives
recommendations about clinical
preventive
services,
gave
the
existing
prostate
cancer
screening a grade D.
“The
U.S.
Preventive
Services Task Force (USPSTF)
recommends against prostate-
specific
antigen
(PSA)-based
screening for prostate cancer,”
the
recommendation
read,
advising against the blood test
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 39
©2017 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
See CENTER, Page 3
First clinic
for prostate
cancer to
open at UM
RESEARCH
Center will more regularly
screen male patients for
genetic predispositions
ERIN DOHERTY
Daily Staff Reporter
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
SACUA members are joined by Rob Sellers, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, in the
Fleming Administration Building on Monday.
SACUA implements new transgender
bathroom policy, outlines GEO demand
Committee agrees all students can use bathroom of their gender identity
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See BATHROOM, Page 3
Last week, the Mackinac
Center for Public Policy filed a
lawsuit against the University
of
Michigan
regarding
the
state’s Freedom of Information
Act, claiming the University
failed to provide the documents
requested within due time.
On Nov. 16, Derek Draplin,
a reporter with the Mackinac
Center’s
Michigan
Capitol
Confidential media outlet, issued
the request on behalf of the
nonprofit Michigan corporation
to release University President
Mark
Schlissel’s
emails
containing the word “Trump”
from July 1 to Nov. 16 of 2016.
In the aftermath of the
presidential election, Schlissel
released a statement endorsing
University-sponsored
events
that aimed to provide resources
and information for students
who felt heavily impacted by
the election results to gather
and share ideas. One event was
a vigil at which Schlissel spoke,
encouraging advocacy among
those who did not support the
election results.
See LAWSUIT, Page 3
Mackinac
Center sues
for delayed
FOIA reply
ADMINISTRATION
Claims University failed
to respond to requests in
due time, seeks penalties
DYLAN LACROIX
Daily Staff Reporter
Students, professors evaluate LSA Race
and Ethnicity course requirement
DESIGN BY NOAH SHERBIN
Faculty look to adjust R&E classes to address post-election political climate, review occurred in earliest days of presidential campaign
LSA junior Ryan Gillcrist,
academic
affairs
committee
chair
for
LSA
Student
Government, has taken three
Race
and
Ethnicity
classes
before this semester, but he said
the one he is enrolled in right
now feels a little different than
the others.
“When I took classes first
year and second year … I mainly
thought about issues of racism
and intolerance in the context
of the courses themselves,”
Gillcrist said. “But I think
that, especially in this political
climate, I’ve started to think of
the classes more in the context
of the present.”
The current national and
campus climate in wake of
actions by President Donald
Trump which have draw focus
on issues relating to race and
ethnicity. Both this semester
and last, the University of
Michigan has faced racist and
anti-Semitic
posters
across
campus and emails sent to
students in multiple academic
programs. Before, anti-Muslim
chalkings covered the Diag.
In response to these issues,
many students and faculty think
the LSA Race and Ethnicity
requirement — which has its
roots in helping to solve similar
situations — plays an important
role in easing political tensions
on campus this semester.
“I wonder what would’ve
been going on if this was
happening a year later.”
Created in 1990 in response
to demands from the student
group Black Action Movement
III, the Race and Ethnicity
requirement
has
long
been
used to address complex social
issues at the University. Since
its conception, all LSA students
have been required to take
at least one R&E class before
graduating, although many, like
Gillcrist, end up taking several.
The
requirement
was
reviewed for the second time
in its history during the 2015-
2016 school year. The review
committee,
led
by
Angela
Dillard, LSA associate dean of
undergraduate education, took a
critical look at the requirement
and the way it contributes
to students’ education. The
committee
made
several
recommendations,
including
smaller discussion sections for
large R&E lectures.
“We
periodically
review
all our degree requirements,”
Dillard said. “For years, R&E
has kind of been on the list
of things to do. I had a huge
interest in it, and the time
seemed right.”
The
review
of
the
requirement
occurred
in
the
earliest
days
of
the
presidential campaign, before
the
University
community
knew how the outcome of the
election would impact issues of
race and ethnicity on campus.
However,
review
committee
member Holly Peters-Golden
— who teaches Introduction to
Anthropology 101, one of the
most popular classes students
take to fulfill the requirement
—
does
not
believe
the
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
See REQUIREMENT, Page 3