All three University of Michigan
students mentioned in this article
requested anonymity due to concern
for their own safety and the safety of
their family. The country of origin of
one of the students is also withheld
out of the same concern.
All under the age of 5 when they
left, memories of home remain
vague for three University of
Michigan students since arriving in
the United States on now-expired
visas. Though protected now under
the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, uncertainty for the future
under the Trump administration
looms.
The students went without legal
protection until former President
Barack Obama signed the DACA
executive action in the summer
of 2012. While the action does not
grant a pathway to citizenship for
recipients — who are often referred
to as “Dreamers” — it provides the
ability to work and deportation
release.
One of the requirements to
qualify for DACA includes arrival
in the United States before the age
of 16. For one female LSA junior,
though her family avoids the
topic of their citizenship, she still
remembers arriving in the United
States.
“I arrived when I was four
and a half years old from (a South
American country),” she said. “I
don’t remember much other than
saying goodbye to family members
and … arriving in Florida. We all
left on visas. This is what makes it
hard because it’s something that my
parents don’t like talking about a lot,
and so … I never know exactly how
things are, like really are. Like how
did we get here, what did they do to
get here. Then again, they didn’t tell
me until I was in seventh grade.”
It wasn’t until fifth grade, when
he started asking questions, that
another LSA junior learned of about
his immigration status. His family
arriving to Detroit from Mexico
on a visa when he was 4 years old,
immigration and their status did not
become an issue until later in his life.
“Around when I was 11 or 12,
that’s when we started having
more and more anti-immigrant
sentiment,” he said. “We started
seeing it, both in politics and in life.
Especially around the time when
the economy started going down.”
As these students grew older,
enrolling
in
college
became
an issue. This was before the
University of Michigan decided to
allow undocumented immigrants
to qualify for in-state tuition. For
one Rackham student who attended
college in Oregon before 2012,
applying to college was a challenge
before the state of Oregon passed a
law in 2013 to allow undocumented
students to receive in-state tuition
under certain conditions.
“Back then when I was going
to college, there was no in-state
tuition policy, so the only schools
that I could apply and even be
granted in were private schools,”
she said. “On paper, I was a really
good student and I was a qualified
person to go to college, but given
my status, I applied to 15 schools
and was rejected to 14 of them
because they said, ‘Hey you’re a
great student but when you can get
this situation figured out, give us a
call.’ ”
Despite being accepted to one
of the schools she applied to, the
tuition of a private school was still
more than she could afford. As an
undocumented student, she could
not qualify for any loans or federal
aid.
“Luckily
that
with
private
institutions … they can give you
personal grants, so they are able
to fund you (through means) not
tied to things like FAFSA or Federal
Financial Aid,” she said. This
allowed her to qualify for merit-
based aid.
The male LSA junior from
Mexico, he graduated from high
school in 2013, the same year that
the University of Michigan changed
its tuition policy for undocumented
students, so he was not yet eligible
for in-state tuition when he needed
to apply to the university. Due to this
cost barrier, he spent three years at
a community college, and still faced
challenges qualifying for in-state
tuition when he transferred to the
University.
Undocumented
students,
including those protected by DACA,
can only qualify for in-state tuition
for up to 28 months after graduating
high school, according to the
University’s in-state tuition policy.
Under that rule, he didn’t qualify for
in-state tuition.
“I had to jump through a lot of
hoops trying to get that sorted out
because nobody on the paid staff
knew what to do,” he said. “Not (a lot)
of people know that that’s an issue. I
know a lot of other undocumented
undergraduate students who have
gone through that, and not just
undergraduate, graduate students
as well.”
In-state
tuition
for
undocumented immigrants varies
from state to state; in Michian,
the University is the only in the
state that grants in-state tuition to
undocumented students.
According to the Migration
Policy Institute, 66 percent of
approximately 1.9 million eligible
undocumented immigrants have
applied to and received the benefits
DACA has to offer.
Still, despite what DACA can do
for undocumented individuals, it
is not a legal immigration status.
DACA only grants temporary legal
presence and the ability to work.
While there is a path for some DACA
recipients to receive a green card,
there is not a clear pathway for many
to achieve citizenship.
“This whole concept of ‘go
back and do it the right way,’ don’t
you think if that was the case we
would’ve done it the right way the
first time?” the undocumented
Rackham student said.
“I can speak with confidence that
a lot of people have been brought
here as children and only know the
United States as their home … they
would love to be citizens,” the male
LSA Junior added.
Living without citizenship stokes
fear and uncertainty for students
and
mixed-status
communities,
or even communities where both
documented and undocumented
peoples live — some as nearby as
The
Office
of
Academic
Innovation partnered with edX,
a massive online open course
provider, on Tuesday evening to
hold a Design Jam for University
of Michigan students. The event
was held so edX could hear from
students about its program and
get a new perspective on the
issues within their platform they
want to solve.
MOOCs are online higher-
education classes available to
learners at all levels and with all
interests. The University partners
with edX, as well as with other
providers like Coursera, to create
classes
taught
by
University
professors for the platform.
The event aimed to facilitate
the discussion of solutions and
creation of prototypes to solve
some of the challenges edX faces
within their company. According
to Rachel Niemer, director of the
University’s Gameful Learning
Lab and the organizer of the
event, design labs are important
because they allow students
to enter conversations about
innovation that are traditionally
faculty-based.
“Our mission is to create a
culture of innovation on campus,
and we interact a lot with faculty
… but we love to go directly to
students and get their fantastic
ideas,” Niemer said. “We find that
the students, because they are
immersed in the act of learning
right now, have really unique
insights.”
While the edX lab did not
draw a large crowd of students,
the handful present were able to
interact directly with edX team
members and faculty from the
Office of Academic Innovation in
a collaborative discussion.
Iain Kennedy, vice president
of product at edX and Ross
School of Business alum, began
the event with an overview of
edX’s history and mission. In
the five and a half years since its
creation in 2012, edX has gained
10 million registered “learners,”
or people who take classes on the
site. As a nonprofit organization,
it partners with more than 120
academic institutions — including
the University — to create classes
that are generally free and open to
the public.
“Our mission as an organization
… is to make the best education in
the world available to anyone in
the world,” Kennedy said. “What
we’re hoping to get out of today
is some insight from folks such as
yourselves into how we can advise
that mission.”
After Kennedy’s statement,
students grouped together to
discuss the questions posed by
edX. Some of these questions dealt
with increasing interactivity and
communication among learners
and making the experience more
reputable and meaningful.
Students
began
by
brainstorming solutions to the
questions edX asked them as they
compared and contrasted MOOCs
with their in-person University
courses. LSA freshman Amar
Srinivasan quickly turned the
conversation to how questions
should be asked and answered in
the online format.
“If I was in this situation,
what would I want?” Srinivasan
said. “Open forum would be
interesting, one where you can
Effective May 1, former U.S.
Attorney Barbara McQuade, a
University of Michigan alum, will
join the Law School faculty as
a professor of national security,
criminal
law
and
criminal
procedure.
McQuade was appointed by
former President Barack Obama
in 2010 as the first woman to serve
as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District
of
Michigan,
which,
according to the Detroit Free Press,
covers 34 counties and 6 million
residents. During her tenure, she
oversaw over 1,000 cases and over
100 attorneys a year.
After resigning from her post
following
President
Donald
Trump’s inauguration, McQuade
told the Law School she is excited
to begin teaching here, especially
given the circumstances of the
times.
“I am honored to return to
Michigan Law School to teach the
next generation of law students at
a critical moment in our nation’s
history,” McQuade told the Law
School.
“Michigan’s
unique
learning environment opened a
michigandaily.com
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 45
©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 LAW, Page 3A
Former US
Attorney to
teach at ‘U’
Law in fall
GOVERNMENT
Barbara McQuade, also a
University alum, will teach
criminal law, procedure
KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily Staff Reporter
edX’s Design Jam work to inspire more
innovation through team building
Online open course website got feedback on program through prototypes
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See EDX, Page 3A
This article is the second part of
an ongoing series of articles outlining
specific initiatives of Central Student
Government on campus.
Providing
financial
support
to more than 300 active student
organizations on campus, the
Student
Organization
Funding
Commission is the funding body
of Central Student Government’s
executive commission.
Every semester, SOFC receives
more than 400 requests from
several
student
organizations
asking to be supported by CSG. This
semester, the body reviewed about
50 groups each Sunday. SOFC has
funded groups such as the Solar
Car Team, Dance Marathon and
TedxUofM.
SOFC Chair Kevin Yang, a
Business junior, said though they
have a substantial amount of
money — about $200,000 — to
award to student organizations, the
process of reviewing applications
is difficult, and requires them to
expand and add several positions.
“We award about just shy of
half a million dollars every single
year to these student organizations
See SOFC, Page 3A
SOFC aims
to finance
on-campus
orgs, events
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
The Student Organization
Funding Commission sees
over 400 student requests
RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter
Students protected under DACA
uncertain of future under Trump
DESIGN BY: KATIE BEUKEMA
New administration leads to fear of post-grad status and vulnerability of families
COLIN BERESFORD
Daily Staff Reporter
See UNDOCUMENTED, Page 3A
JULIA LAWSON/Daily
LSA sophomore Felicity Harfield speaks at the speakABLE event to raise awareness for disabilities on campus in
Hatcher Tuesday night.
SPE AK-ABLE