The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 — 3A
he said. “But it’s here and this
is something that we’re dealing
with.”
Recent raids have also occurred
in Ypsilanti and Detroit.
Nicole Novak, University of
Michigan postdoctoral fellow in
the Population Studies Center,
explained
the
similarities
between current raids and a 2008
raid that occurred in Postville,
Iowa, which was at the time
the largest raid to occur in U.S.
history.
“That immigration raid (was)
almost like an ethnic, city-specific
or community-specific terrorist
attack, because it had a lot of
effects that we’re maybe seeing
today,” she said. “People were
trying to prepare for what might
happen next.”
For many immigrants currently
residing in the United States, the
fear of being undocumented or
of lacking citizenship status had
never been as severe as it is now
under the current administration.
Because of this, many have
taken measures to avoid being
publicized by having their benefits
canceled or by continuing to live
without forms of identification.
University alum Maria Ibarra-
Frayre works for the Washtenaw
County ID program where she
helps serve those who do not
have access to a form of state
identification. Primarily, these
services provide IDs to those who
are undocumented, do not have
a permanent address or do not
have birth certificates. Recently,
however, the fears of becoming
identified have stopped many who
would previously have tried to
obtain this form of identification.
“People both are afraid to
not have an identification and
are afraid to get the ID because
they’re afraid that this will put
them in the database,” she said.
Panelists also spoke of the
Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, a two-year renewable
permission
enacted
under
President
Barack
Obama
in
June 2012 for those who were
between the ages of 15 and 31.
The permanence of the act
remains in question given the
Trump administration’s stance
on
immigration.
Panelists
highlighted its importance in
recent years, specifically when
promoting a sense of togetherness
with recent waves of immigration.
“Part of me wants to believe
that the reason (Trump) has not
rescinded DACA is because the
Trump administration is afraid of
people who have DACA,” she said.
“It’s been such a huge movement
of undocumented youth who have
gotten up and really claimed their
status in the U.S. and were able
to speak out against everything
that had been happening with
immigration,” Ibarra-Frayre said.
Panelists
explained
these
youth, however, are currently
facing even greater fears in regard
to their families and the questions
as to whether new policies will
end up moving them to different
locations or separating them from
their loved ones.
“They’re not sleeping at night,
they’re not showing up to school,
they’re just deathly afraid that
their parents are going to be
taken away from them,” Flores
said. “The greatest impact is the
uncertainty of how this is all
going to unfold and the damage
path that’s going to be as a result
of it.”
Panelists concluded by urging
audience members to become
involved in their communities, to
take part in local nonprofits and
to network with others passionate
about advocacy and awareness.
LSA junior Donny Hearn
III, who attended the panel,
said he has found these types of
events to be especially important
for students when it comes to
engaging in movements they
learn about and start to feel
strongly about.
“Especially in a university it’s
important to take what you learn
in the classroom and recognize
that it’s a real-life issue,” he said.
“By reading actual faces and
actual people you can connect
things you hear on the news and
so forth with academia and I
think actually make some sort of
push to change reality.”
PANEL
From Page 1A
J. Alex Halderman’s email, from
which racist messages were sent to
computer science and engineering
undergraduate
students.
The
emails sparked protests across
campus in the following weeks,
with many Black students decrying
a pattern of inflammatory racist
incidents.
“I grew up being taught that
the skin I am in is beautiful, and
that I am capable of success,” the
op-ed reads. “The thought that I
will soon be confronted by people
espousing the opposite messages
terrifies me.”
Gardner-Brown
recognizes
while events of this nature do not
reflect the values of the University
campus, they are happening there
nonetheless.
“In short, for them, being Black
at a PWI (predominantly white
institution) is getting worse,” she
wrote.
Gardner-Brown said in a phone
interview she had initially planned
on another topic for her Dialogue
piece, but after coming across the
emails on Twitter, she changed her
mind.
“I felt I need to write something
about this,” Gardner-Brown said.
“I was happy I got it out of my
system, but at the same time I
was hesitant to show the world,
to write something so critical of
the University before I even got a
chance on campus.”
Alone in the Crowd
Affirmative
action
was
dissolved at the University in 2006,
when Gardner-Brown was still in
elementary school. It was then she
became aware of the prevalence
of racial tension at the University,
even among students for whom
acceptance was a dream come
true. When speaking with Black
students on campus for her piece,
she learned it was a complicated
dynamic.
“Now don’t get me wrong, they
love the campus, they love the
educational experience,” Gardner-
Brown said. “However, when put
in terms of the culture in terms of
the segregation on campus, I have
not met a single Black person or a
single person of color who has told
me they were able to feel safe all
of the time. Their classmates are
ignorant of issues that Black people
are subject to. They are positive
about campus as a whole, but not
the racial tension.”
Engineering graduate student
Aeriel Murphy is a member of
Movement of Under-represented
Sisters in Engineering and Science.
Her high school and undergraduate
experiences
at
the
University
of Alabama, she said, were very
different than those Gardner-
Brown experienced.
“I think that her points are valid,
but I just want her to know, if you
go to Michigan State it’s still going
to be a very similar story,” Murphy
said. “Really, no matter where you
go there’s going to be this feeling of
uncertainty, a feeling of weariness.
In Alabama, you didn’t have it
in emails, you had it in people
screaming at you on your way to
the football games.”
When
selecting
a
college,
she advises, it is important for
incoming minority students to do
their homework in person.
“When students are visiting
schools, ask if you can chat with
students of color,” she said. “If the
school is like, we don’t really have
any, that’s a sign,” she said. “If you
go to school, and you have a tour
guide, more than likely they won’t
be of your race.”
Elizabeth James, faculty adviser
for the Black Student Union, said
as an alum and current employee
at the University, she believes the
mental health of Black students on
campus is a crucial issue.
“When I read the article, the
first thing that popped in my head
was the more things change the
more they stay the same,” she
said. “No matter where you are
in the country you’re going to be
combatting some of these issues.”
Trelawny
Boynton,
director
of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs,
wrote in an email interview she
appreciates
when
current
or
prospective students share their
concerns about the University as
well as their hopes.
“The
transition
to
a
new
community, especially a college
community, can be challenging
for students,” Boynton wrote.
“It can be academic, social and/
or personal, and it will show up
differently for each of us.”
James echoed these sentiments,
and said she related to what
Gardner-Brown wrote.
“That’s showing she has all
the makings of a true academic,”
she said. “She is doing the type of
critical thinking that shows she has
what it takes to make it here.”
Numbers Don’t Lie
Racial
inequalities
at
the
University are well-documented,
especially
since
the
#BBUM
Twitter
campaign
garnered
national attention in Nov. 2013. In
2015, the ratio of Black to white
students across the University
measured 1,801 to 24,517, according
to the Office of the Registrar.
That disparity — the difference
of 4.1 percent against 56.2 — is
difficult to conceptualize. In LSA,
the largest college at the University
with 19,338 students, the ratio was
961 to 11,649 — not even one Black
student to every thousand white.
Broken down, there were 607 Black
female students listed to 6,355
white female students. For men,
the ratio decreases to 354 to 5,294
white male students.
This fall, the University boasted
bolstered
enrollment
numbers,
which in turn affected diversity
numbers. The University indicated
in a press release it had reviewed
and processed 55,500 applications
for the current freshman class, a
7-percent increase from the last
class’s 51,761. Black enrollment,
however, still dropped from 5.1
percent in 2015 to 4.6 percent for
the class of 2020.
It has been found that simply
increasing the number of students
who enter the University cannot
solve the problem of inequity and
can, in fact, create new problems.
In 2014, the University overshot
the
targeted
freshman
class
size of 6,000 by a margin of 505
that overburdened housing and
instructional resources.
The Board of Regents crafted
a plan to curb enrollment, such
as
reducing
early
admissions
offers, hiring its first associate
vice
president
for
enrollment
management and increased use
of wait-listing. As a result, the
number of freshmen entering
campus decreased to 6,071 the
following year.
“I believe that diversifying
those primarily white campuses
is crucial,” Gardner-Brown said.
“That’s a part of the reason why I
was so excited. Even the fact that
I’m going to be one of the people
that help change the campus.
Honestly, people think the civil
rights era was so long ago but it
really wasn’t.”
Outside Ivory Towers
James said while recent events at
the University were heartbreaking,
she believed students responded
with resilience. Though she does
not believe the recent racially
charged events were perpetrated
by
members
of
the
campus
community, she feels they are an
unfortunate but necessary method
of character building for Black
students.
“You can’t escape outside,” she
said. “It’s going to be there when
you leave these ivory towers,”
she said. “But when you leave
Michigan, you have more in your
portfolio that will assist you. It
strengthens your spirit and your
perspective so that you can say in
any workplace in America, ‘I’m
enough.’ Because you’ve had to first
say it here.”
James said her mother, who
attended the University during
the height of the Jim Crow era,
furnished her with advice that
continues to be relevant today.
Though she experienced more
covert racism in the southern
institutions
she
attended
previously, James’s mother was
met with a different type of
discrimination
that
ultimately
prepared
her
for
the
larger
community.
Boynton
said
her
advice
for
incoming
students
from
minority
backgrounds
should
avail themselves to the support
systems at the University, such
as a resident adviser in the
residence hall, various student
organizations and offices like
MESA to support their transition.
“We are thrilled that she’s
been accepted and look forward
to meeting her and the incoming
class,” Boynton wrote.
Frontline Diversity Work
Gardner-Brown,
who
aims
to pursue a global health major
while at the University, said
though she still has anxieties she
is excited to matriculate with the
class of 2021.
“I don’t think that people
should not have opinions,” she
said. “I just think that every
opinion should be valued and I
just don’t think that’s the case
on campus and I would like to be
part of changing that.”
James calls the phenomenon
frontline diversity work — closing
the
space
between
differing
groups increases the potential
for progress. She referenced the
success of a joint Shabbat dinner
between Hillel and the Black
Student Union.
“I was really proud of them,”
she said. “That’s stepping out of
your comfort zone, and really
taking a look at another culture.
We have to find a way to reach out
and talk to one another. You can’t
do it if everybody in the room is
the same — you just can’t.”
Murphy said regardless of
how much preparation incoming
students have when transferring
to
a
predominantly
white
institution, there will always be
culture shock.
“The environment of support is
going to be completely different,”
she said. “As a student, as she goes
out into the real world — you’re
not going to meet people who look
like you. You are going to work in
an environment in which people
are racist.”
APPLICANT
From Page 1A
nationwide have used. Colleges
like Michigan State University
have also set up food pantries that
offer different food distribution
methods in an attempt to address
the problem, but many have
found it difficult to cope with the
increasing demand.
Regents at the University of
California also recently launched
a Global Food Initiative with
a Food Access and Security
Subcommittee, which includes
measures such as vouchers for
campus dining, expanding food
pantry access and improving
communication about resources.
Students at Columbia University
created an app called Swipes that
connects people with meal plans
to “receivers,” allowing them to
use complimentary swipes to let
other students into dining halls.
Universities such as UW-Madison,
New York University, Emory
College and others have adopted
similar policies.
“I sat down with several
different student organizations
that were working on this and we
had this idea of a partnership with
dining,” Sabada said. “We looked
into some other school programs
and this was the result of what
we found worked best with the
infrastructure we have here.”
LSA
sophomore
Skylar
Burkhardt, who currently lives
off-campus, acknowledged the
lack of food resources on campus
and brought up the fact that
food insecurity is an issue a lot
of students at the University deal
with.
“I was in a program the other
day where there was a simulation
about
food
insecurities
in
developing countries, and a lot of
people were very frustrated with
it, and were talking about how they
didn’t have to be demonstrated
what food insecurity looks like, or
what in general not having these
privileges looks like because this
is something they experience on
a day-to-day basis.” Burkhardt
said. “There is definitely a lack of
cheap, healthy food resources in
the downtown Ann Arbor area, so
really if you’re living off-campus
you have to drive or take a bus to
get to these places.”
While Burkhardt admired the
program and acknowledged it
was a step in the right direction,
she also felt it was a short-term
solution to a much larger issue.
“It doesn’t seem like a very
sustainable program, in that it’s not
going to be solving their hunger in
the future,” she said. “But I think
as long as someone is getting the
meal — it’s definitely a good cause
to be working towards, and I
think it’s really cool that they’re
eliminating this disadvantage for
the time being, but I’m curious to
see if any long-term solutions will
come up.”
Sabada also acknowledged the
fact that the program wouldn’t
be sustainable for the future, but
added it is primarily being used
to address immediate student
concerns, as well as collects data so
new initiatives can be launched in
the future.
“We realize this program is not
a long-term solution — it’s only
six meals, and that doesn’t solve
food insecurity on campus,” she
said. “But we’re hoping to really
meet that immediate need for
students that are struggling now,
helping them through this period
and hopefully coming up with
a program next semester that is
more long-term and able to help
students throughout the duration
of their college career.”
MEAL PLAN
From Page 2A
rights leader; the Dalai Lama; and
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a South
African anti-apartheid activist.
Stevenson began by detailing
his journey as a Harvard Law
graduate through the Southern
criminal justice system, defending
inmates on death row in an era
of unprecedented growth in the
country’s
incarceration
rate.
Stevenson
stressed
the
racial
disparities present in the system
— specifically the high rates of
incarceration in Black and Latino
populations — and pushed for more
frank discussions of the United
States’s history of racism.
“The United States is the most
punitive society in the world …
we have a criminal justice system
that treats you better if you’re rich
and guilty than if you’re poor and
innocent,” he said. “We have to talk
about the fact that we are living in a
post-genocide society. I don’t think
(the United States) is shameful
enough for what we have done
wrong.”
Stevenson at times connected
the themes of racial and class
equality and social justice to the
current political climate in the
aftermath of the 2016 presidential
election. During his talk, he noted
the high support for President
Donald Trump in his home state
of Alabama.
“When
people
say,
‘Make
America great again,’ I want to
know what decade we’re talking
about,” Stevenson said, drawing
exuberant applause from the
crowd.
MEDAL
From Page 1A
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“This
University
has
a
comprehensive history of civic
engagement, but this dedication
of citizenship is dependent on
how the University prioritizes
students’ ability to vote and
participate in our democracy,”
Galindez said. “As it stands,
the
University
of
Michigan
discourages students from voting
by prioritizing class over civic duty
and
dis-incentivizing
students
from working the polls.”
Engineering senior A.J. Ashman,
co-author
of
the
resolution
advocating for the holiday, echoed
this statement, adding it was unfair
for the administration to force
students to make difficult decisions
about their civic engagement and
education.
“Students are residents of Ann
Arbor; they have the right to have
their voices heard,” he said. “It’s
borderline morally unjustifiable to
have a system where students have
to choose between going to class,
getting their education and being
involved in the decision of their
country’s state of power.”
Rackham Rep. Andy Snow was
skeptical of the idea, saying he
talked to constituents and they
were not very receptive to the
idea because a holiday on Election
Day would result in the loss of Fall
Break, or at least a part of it.
“Have
you
actually
asked
students specifically if they prefer
this to Fall Break?” he said to the
body.
CSG
From Page 1A
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