The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
Thursday, March 9, 2017 — 3A
We
are
a
coalition
of
organizations
committed
to
transforming
the
University
of Michigan campus climate
through policy change. We
believe
that
the
Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion strategic
planning initiative will fail
without financial investments
into
the
infrastructure
for DEI work: The current
policy of expecting free labor
from
marginalized
people
undermines the integrity of the
entire DEI campus enterprise.
Since
the
DEI
strategic
plans were released last fall,
the University has repeatedly
declared its aspirations for a
truly diverse, equitable and
inclusive campus environment.
However, a recent decision by
the University conflicts with
this vision.
In
December
2016,
the
Graduate
Employees’
Organization, the labor union
representing Graduate Student
Instructors
and
Graduate
Student
Staff
Assistants,
put forth a proposal to the
University to create paid DEI
positions for graduate students
within each school unit. As
part of negotiations for its labor
contract, GEO proposed hiring
at least one DEI GSSA per school
unit
at
a
20-hours-a-week
appointment, with additional
positions at larger schools such
as LSA and Engineering. These
GSSA roles would substantially
increase the capacity of each
school unit to implement their
DEI plans, and officially place
value on the diversity labor
and expertise contributed by
graduate students. Moreover,
GSSA positions dedicated to
DEI work would lift much
of the labor burden off of
students, faculty and staff who
have
historically
done
this
work on a voluntary basis. Paid
GSSA positions would make it
possible for the University to
be proactive on campus climate
issues, rather than reactive,
and institutionalize DEI labor
as core to campus operations.
In February, the University
rejected that proposal. As part
of
negotiation
proceedings
between GEO and Academic
Human Resources, HR flatly
rejected GEO’s proposal to
fund GSSA positions for DEI
labor in each campus unit.
This concerns undergraduate
students,
graduate
students,
staff and faculty alike. It sends
a message to our communities
that the University does not
place a high value on DEI labor
if it is unwilling to pay for it.
Recent
campus
events
ranging
from
racist
and
anti-Semitic emails to white
supremacist fliers have made it
abundantly clear that now more
than ever the University needs
to take proactive measures and
ensure that each school unit
has the capacity to respond
to acts of hate efficiently and
effectively.
Without
paid
DEI positions as part of the
University
infrastructure,
school units will continue to
struggle when responding to
such incidents as they arise.
We call on the University to
meaningfully
integrate
DEI
labor into the structure of
our institution by hiring and
paying students to support the
implementation of DEI plans.
We specifically declare our
endorsement of GEO’s proposal
to create paid DEI graduate
student staff positions. In doing
so, we join the more than 900
students, faculty and staff who
have signed a petition in support
of the proposal. Several of our
organizations have previously
described the need for fair
compensation
for
diversity
labor and the importance of
investing in human resources
in order to address inequalities
in the distribution of diversity
labor on campus. There is
clear and broad support for the
creation of paid DEI positions.
Hiring GSSAs across school
units
would
substantially
increase
staff
capacity
to
implement DEI strategic plans.
Most campus units have formed
working groups and committees
to begin the work of developing
and implementing such plans.
These
advisory
committees
serve an important role in
overseeing progress, but they
are not equipped to carry out
the day-to-day tasks involved in
actual implementation. Those
who serve on the committees
do so voluntarily, and on top
of their existing job duties,
academic workload or both.
Meetings held once a month
or once a semester are not
enough to promote systemic
change within any campus
unit. These facts coupled with
the high turnover rate most
committees
experience,
as
students and faculty move on
to serve other needs, can make
DEI
committees
ineffective.
Expecting school units to adhere
to aggressive implementation
timelines in the absence of
paid staff dedicated to doing
this work is both unrealistic
and unsustainable. By hiring
graduate students to support
implementation
activities,
GEO’s proposal addresses the
widespread
capacity
issues
faced by diversity initiatives
across campus.
Creating paid DEI positions
would also harness valuable
student
expertise
that
has
yet to be utilized through
formal mechanisms. Students
at the University have been
successfully organizing around
issues of race, gender and
class for a long time. Leaders
from across our organizations
are
routinely
tapped
as
“on-the-ground”
experts
by
administrators
and
asked
to engage in diversity labor
because of their knowledge of
power dynamics and systems
of oppression as they apply
to
University
settings.
In
fact,
many
school-specific
DEI plans tout the successes
of student-led DEI efforts as
their
own.
However,
these
students have largely engaged
in
diversity
labor
through
informal channels, providing
their recommendations on an
unpaid basis to school officials
who have limited expertise
on issues related to race and
inequality. Deans and chairs
overwhelmingly
hail
from
socially privileged groups and
have not been tested on their
qualifications
to
implement
DEI plans effectively. Their lack
of both lived and professional
experience
in
this
domain
means that they rely heavily on
students to engage in diversity
labor for them. By screening
and
hiring
for
the
most
qualified
applicants,
GEO’s
DEI
GSSA
proposal
would
create
official,
recognized
roles dedicated to diversity
labor. Graduate students with
DEI expertise are uniquely
positioned to assist with the
effective
implementation
of
strategic plans, because they
know how to effectively engage
with and gather information
from
students,
faculty
and
staff constituencies, including
those
from
marginalized
communities.
Most
importantly,
GEO’s
proposal
promotes
social
equity by lifting the diversity
labor burden off of minority
and underrepresented faculty,
students, and staff who engage
in this work on an unpaid
basis.
DEI
work
continues
to fall disproportionately on
people of color, women, LGBTQ
people, and religious/cultural
minorities. Because this work
is almost always voluntary,
it
means
that
folks
from
marginalized
backgrounds
end up assuming the costs
themselves.
Scholars
have
documented
the
ways
that
diversity labor diverts attention
away
from
activities
that
promote professional success
and harms the mental well-
being of women and minorities.
When engagement with DEI
initiatives is strictly voluntary,
this
reproduces
the
very
inequalities they are supposed
to eliminate. Students from
marginalized backgrounds are
especially vulnerable to this
type of labor exploitation from
the University.
People engaging in diversity
labor
must
be
adequately
compensated
and
protected
from potential retaliation by
those in positions of power. It is
not enough to hire individuals
as hourly employees and pay
them at minimum wage. DEI
work is intense and difficult
work because topics like race
and gender can be seen as
controversial. The challenging
nature of the work mandates
union
protection
to
guard
against retaliation and ensure
an independent procedure for
resolving grievances. No one
engaging in diversity work
should be subject to negative
professional
or
personal
consequences for doing so. By
incorporating DEI GSSAs into
the graduate employee union,
GEO confers the same benefits
and
protections
owed
to
graduate student laborers who
keep this university running.
At its core, diversity work
is a labor issue. Unpaid labor
should be a concern to everyone
in our community, particularly
because it disproportionately
affects people who are now
under attack by hate groups
here in Michigan and across
the nation. Until our concerns
about how diversity labor is
uncompensated and unfairly
distributed
are
addressed,
statements
from
University
administrators
about
the
importance of DEI work will
continue to ring hollow. Join
us in telling University of
Michigan that Diversity Labor
is Not for Free. Sign the petition
at
www.tinyurl.com/geodei
and tell your communities what
is at stake.
Don’t
forget
about
Flint.
People there still don’t have
clean water.
I’m
from
Flint,
lucky
to
have my water untainted and
saddened by the hundreds of
homes ruined, people poisoned
and voices unheard.
We must never forget about
Flint. The aftereffects of lead
poisoning will continue to harm
and haunt many for the years to
come. May we learn from this
negligence and work and speak
so something like this will never
happen again.
The following is a poem I
wrote a year ago when the
coverage of the crisis was just
beginning:
Water That Has To
Boil
I hold in my hand a map that
pinpoints every area where lead
is in the water
Just yesterday I said that we,
that y’all weren’t going to keel
over
That’s what the governor said
too
But Rick Snyder knew that it
was a possibility in a different
kind of way
That we, that y’all were going
to die
People die here all the time,
we’re desensitized to what
comes as a shock to another
town’s news
I say “we” because I’m a
Flintstone too, I say “y’all”
because my water isn’t tainted
and because
I use my cousin’s death by
getting shot, my grandmother’s
old
address,
my
father’s
high school alma mater, my
familiarity to the city and its
danger as sorry examples of
street cred
I end my envelopes: Flint,
Michigan 48532
But I’m in the middle of Flint
and Flint Township, smudged a
block in between the two
There is a flaw in this thinking
Do I not live in Flint because
I don’t live where the crime is
mostly concentrated?
Flint Township isn’t at all
sunshine and rainbows, but
Flint isn’t just eclipses and
gunshots
We’re nearly one and the same,
we share a name, families,
histories, stories
It’s we, y’all
I look at the map once again
Damn, I am literally a block
away from having my water
look like piss and shit
What
if
my
parents
were
potentially going to buy a house
a minute more east?
But when the water plant made
blueprints, this is where they
stopped
A block away from my house
Once I cross Ballenger, the
water turns to a broth
It’s alphabet soup, the names
we forget in the Rolling Stone
columns that put the scope on
lives that have been demolished
The last time I was at a soup
kitchen, I saw what I thought
were polar opposites
A
one-legged
man
in
a
wheelchair followed by a man
in a three-piece suit with a
Rolex on his wrist
But they were one and the
same; they both were hungry
and wanted company
Sometimes it’s nice to listen to
voices
Or have yours listened to
A boy no older than 8 steps up
He isn’t even tall enough to see
over the counter
But he directs us to fill plates
for his three younger siblings
like a seasoned parent
And I talk to them afterward —
“I don’t have a dad”
“I’m hungry”
One screams and yells in a
tantrum
That’s what’s happening right
now
Flintstones protest and babies
kick and scream, scared of
water that’s their Kryptonite
We get a response of, “I’m sorry
this happened”
Later he says, “I’m sorry”
Well I’m not sorry, but how
the **** are you still in office,
Snyder?
I was about to address you as
Mr., but I have no respect for
you
My face twisted at the mention
of your name since the moment
your laws cut my mom and her
friends’ pay because they’re
teachers
You claim you’re one tough nerd
But let’s try one weak negligent
Every time you open your
mouth with your American flag
lapel on your jacket,
The North Side flies real ones
upside down at half-mast
How do you smile?
How
can
you
smile
with
cameras flashing when you
knew of this months ago?
And did nothing
How could you send water to
state employees in the city at
the same time and now claim,
Oh, yeah, that was for the
public too!
But it wasn’t just the smug
smiling governor
Keith
Creagh
and
the
Department of Environmental
Quality covered up proof of
astronomical amounts of lead
Susan Hedman scoffed at a
House memo that would’ve
sent in the cavalry before the
cavalry was needed
The
emergency
manager,
Darnell Earley, put his name
that should live in infamy on
the dotted line to save a mere
$5 million
What are the damages now,
Darnell?
And
this
was
after
an
incompetent city council voted
7-1 in 2013 to switch back to
Detroit water
A council that includes my
dad’s drunken DUI childhood
neighbor made a better decision
than people who went to school
for political science
Get this, political science:
The lead levels has been found
as high as 104 ppb
The federal maximum is 15
I saw Mr. Walling, the former
mayor, praying in the chapel
an hour before service every
Sunday
And what about the city as a
whole?
This would not happen in a
majority white / affluent city
Think of the steps taken there
just to water the tulips and
lilies
And
this
majority-Black
population lives in what looks
like a third-world country
Ailing, dying from diseases
nobody has ever heard of before
Legionnaires
I once wrote about the rise of
the city, but we’ve been sent
into a Hell
Back
to
looking
semi-
apocalyptic
My
subdivision
is
getting
darker so my mom won’t go to
the Kroger around the corner
alone anymore
The
town
is
now
more
inescapable than it was before
and neighborhoods are cell
blocks
Homes
are
literally
worth
nothing because it’s illegal to
sell them and who wants to
move here now?
But residents still received
fliers of babies smiling in a
bathtub, telling parents that it
was OK to bathe their children
in water that didn’t look like
water
Again, a covertness to reveal
the truth and a smile
Remember Ronald McDonald
The only thing people can do
now to help is to send plastic
water bottles to a food desert
where some are forced to desert
to fast food
The damage has been done and
this just adds to the multitude
of problems
When I read my local paper,
it’s not just the water that has
to boil
The heat on our faces evaporates
tears
There’s always a shoulder to cry
on
Like
murder,
it’s
somehow
become commonplace to leave a
sleeve soaking wet
Kids in the inner city have
sleeves that are holy
Their community is set up to
fail and it takes more than sheer
will-power to have the power
Outsiders hear you’re from here
and give you a look of disgust
I’ll never forget the raised
heads
and
closed
mouths
disconnecting a sigh when I say
my hometown’s name
Flint — like it’s the Lord’s name
in vain
It makes you feel like less of a
person on top of the experiment
you’ve been treated like
The pride of being born and
raised fades — a hometown
burden
I think a lot of people forgot
Like people will forget
They’ll forget about Flint like
always and they’ll forget the
decades it’ll take to replace
pipes and the near year until
everything is relatively back to
normal
But this isn’t just something
you can put a blanket over like
the blatant statements putting
down this city
The half-life of lead is still alive
in bloodstreams
Traumatic
experiences
for
human
beings
cannot
be
forgotten overnight
Children who already have
low IQs will have scores that
continue to tumble
And the impact of stupidity will
reign for years to come
From a stupid governor and his
staff
To a sadly stupid kid who will
make a bad choice
Because think about it, at least
one of these children harmed
will take a life
People don’t just die from the
water poisoning
They die from guns and cars
and knives too
Which will be held by those
who were told that the water
was safe to drink
That’s what happened to my
cousin over a decade ago
At the same hospital I was born
in, they’ll give children teddy
bears
The media put a two-year-old
on the cover of Time
This isn’t the press we wanted,
nor deserved
We hate that the story told
about Flint is a negative one
In what was once an oasis, we
don’t look for water
We look for Pb and THMs
Holding on to hope and asking
why to fathers and Father
I don’t know where everybody
is or how my extended family is
doing
So I just hold this map
Outside a city near death
On its last breath
But it’ll take two more, then
three
We won’t suffocate
We won’t die of thirst
Pay Students for Diversity Labor
Don’t Forget
About Flint
THE MULTICULTURAL
LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
CHRIS CROWDER
Michigan in Color Contributor
GEO’s proposal
promotes social
equity by lifting
the diversity labor
burden
We call on the
University to
meaningfully
integrate DEI
labor into the
structure of our
institution