When
Elizabeth
James,
program
associate
for
the
Department
of
Afroamerican
and African Studies, attended
the University of Michigan for
her undergraduate degree in the
1970s, she experienced an act of
racism that seemed unthinkable
to her: Someone vandalized her
dorm room door with a racial slur.
“We had someone scrawl on
our door when we first moved into
our dormitory, and at that time
it was just unbelievable,” James
said. “We were really hurt.”
When nearly the same thing
happened in West Quad Residence
Hall this semester, James felt as if
she were transported back to the
’70s.
“Some of the things just trigger
me, in that they are very similar,”
she said.
Since the semester started,
more than 20 acts of explicit
racism or bigotry have occurred
on or near campus. Aside from
the racist graffiti scrawled on
a West Quad dorm room, racist
posters have been found in
several campus locations, a man
defiled a “Black Lives Matter”
chalk drawing on the Diag and
anti-Latino
sentiments
were
painted on the Rock.
James, who is also the faculty
adviser for the University’s Black
Student
Union
and
National
Council
of
Negro
Women,
said she was able to cope with
racism while in school by finding
comfort and support in her peers
and friends. But James posited:
How are today’s events affecting
the mental health of targeted
students?
“A lot of students are tired,”
James said. “A lot of students
want results.”
When racism hits, it can
negatively
affect
the
mental
health of students of color.
Counseling and Psychological
Services
psychologist
Sheryl
Kelly said there are two typical
reactions to experiencing racism,
and both take a toll on a student’s
health.
“It
varies,
depending
on
individuals,” Kelly said. “You
have some people that have dealt
with it for so long that they’re
kind of saying, ‘Unfortunately,
I’ve seen this before and some
students that feel hopeless and
helpless to finding a remedy
to this situation. And I believe
that latter one seems to be very
prevalent on this campus. I think
a lot of students are tired. A lot of
students want results.”
Ebony McGee, a professor of
diversity and urban schooling
at Vanderbilt University, told
Vanderbilt’s research blog her
research proves these harmful
effects are pervasive.
“Weathering the cumulative
effects of living in a society
characterized
by
white
dominance and privilege produces
a kind of physical and mental
wear-and-tear that contributes
to a host of psychological and
physical
ailments,”
McGee
said.
“We
have
documented
alarming occurrences of anxiety,
stress, depression and thoughts
of suicide, as well as a host of
physical ailments like hair loss,
diabetes and heart disease.”
Research on this topic has
also been done at the University.
A study from David Williams,
a
professor
of
sociology
and
epidemiology,
further
explains the link by analyzing
several reports that discussed
the
connection
between
discrimination and mental health
of LGBTQ individuals, Latinos,
immigrant populations and Black
people. All reports showed an
increase in discrimination led to
a decrease in mental health.
“(P)erceptions
of
racial
discrimination were related to
higher levels of psychological
distress and lower levels of life
satisfaction and happiness as
well as with poorer physical
health,” Williams’s report reads.
“Everyday discrimination was
significantly
related
to
both
measures
of
mental
health
status, independent of traditional
measures of life events, chronic
stress, and financial stress.”
“It’s very easy to think in
this sort of cloud of nothing
matters”
Minority
students
at
the
University understand this data
firsthand. Some say they live it
every day on campus.
LSA senior Akanksha Sahay is
the president of Yoni Ki Baat, an
organization of women of color
on campus. In the weeks after
last fall’s presidential election,
she was afraid to walk around
campus in her own skin.
“Muslim women were being
attacked or assaulted,” Sahay
said. “I don’t identify as Muslim,
but because I have such visibly
brown skin, I’ve been mistaken as
Muslim in the past … being visibly
brown felt like an invitation for
some kind of violence.”
Although
the
majority
of
hate crimes on campus this
semester
have
targeted
the
Black community, which Sahay
also does not identify with, she
said it’s impossible to stand
by as a minority when other
groups are being attacked. As
a campus activist, she has been
involved in the protests of the
past month. She also struggles
with depression, which she said
makes dealing with these events
so much more difficult.
“Obviously, there are some
days where you just can’t get out
of bed and that’s a part of being
depressed, but when there are
events like this on campus, it just
seems like even more of a reason
to not bother trying,” Sahay said.
“It’s very easy to think in this sort
of cloud of nothing matters and
it’s easier to not feel anything
than to feel upset all the time
... (the campus climate) effects
whether or not a day can go from
‘I can deal with these things
because I know there are people
on campus who have my back’ to
‘I need to stay at home because
I can’t deal with anything right
now.’”
LSA junior Timberlee Whiteus
has also been active in the
protests on campus. She said in
an email interview, as a Black
woman, the events of the past
month have been disturbing
but not surprising. After all,
she’d experienced racism at the
University before, in a chemistry
classroom.
“I was once in a Chem lab and
I had a partner who requested to
change partners and would not
work with me,” Whiteus wrote.
“She went out of her way each lab
to work with another group, in
which I was forced to work alone
The
Women’s
Studies
Department at the University
of Michigan was founded in
1973 with the aim of combining
elements of medicine, health
and law, as well as disciplines
from the humanities and social
sciences. It offers two majors,
three
minors
and
several
graduate opportunities.
Though the department has
expanded, in terms of size and
course content, students and
faculty agree people who are
not in the field may have certain
misconceptions about its nature
— specifically that is anti-men
and not lucrative in the future.
In reality, the department’s
mission is to provide a holistic
education,
discussing
the
intersection of gender with a
range of other fields from arts
education to neurology.
Interdisciplinary education is
central to the department, along
with an emphasis on feminist
theory.
Rosario Ceballo, the Women’s
Studies
Department
chair,
believes the interdisciplinary
aspects
of
the
department
is
“incredibly
intellectually
exciting,” but also very relevant
and important to the world
today. She said employers look
for new employees who are able
to think broadly across fields.
“If you look at the social
problems in our world today, we
cannot attempt to solve them
with one approach, or from one
particular set of expertise or
knowledge base,” she said. “To
really be able to have an impact
in society you need to be able to
come at social problems from
different perspectives and have
different things in your toolkit.”
This is a view also held by
Victor Mendoza, an associate
professor
and
the
director
of
undergraduate
studies
in
women’s
studies,
who
highlighted the curriculum’s
emphasis on interdisciplinary
and
cross-cultural
understanding
in
an
email
interview.
“And
by
interdisciplinary,
I mean something of a radical
interdisciplinary, in that our
faculty
include
historians,
literary
studies
scholars,
legal scholars, psychologists,
nurses,
political
scientists,
midwives, poets, digital studies
scholars, performance artists,
anthropologists and physicians,”
he wrote. “The various fields
of inquiry represented by such
a disciplinarily varied faculty
— not to mention the various
geographical sites they work on
across the globe — speak to the
richness of feminist scholarship
that the curriculum offers.”
Majors, minors and course
themes
In partnership with the Ross
School of Business, University
of Michigan students in the
College of Pharmacy can now
receive a dual doctorate of
Pharmacy and an MBA degree
in five years. Courses for the
new
dual
degree
program
begin in the spring/summer
2018 semester, but students
can apply for the program now.
According to the College of
Pharmacy, 54.4 percent of the
2017 graduating class is on a
residency program career path.
For many students, a future in
clinical work lies ahead, but
some seek a broader education
spectrum to bring the world
of drugs into modern business
fields.
The new dual doctorate of
Pharmacy and MBA consists
of completing three years of a
normal pharmacy education.
As part of the new program,
instead of continuing on the
typical pharmacy path of one
more year of rotations before
graduation,
the
new
dual
degree supplements this fourth
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, October 13, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 10
©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
CROS SWO R D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
See PHARMACY, Page 3
Ross and
Pharmacy
offer new
dual degree
ACADEMICS
The new partnership
between the two colleges
offers a PharmD and MBA
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporter
The Women's Studies department has 30 budgeted faculty
members and over 50 faculty with courtesy appointments
U of M Women’s Studies
women’s studies
majors
“And by interdisciplinary, I mean something of a radical interdisciplinarity, in that
our faculty include historians, literary studies scholars, legal scholars, psycholo-
gists, nurses, political scientists, midwives, poets, digital studies scholars,
performance artists, anthropologists, and physicians. The various fields of inquiry
represented by such a disciplinarily varied faculty — not to mention the various
geographical sites they work on across the globe — speak to the richness of
feminist scholarship that the curriculum offers.”
72
gender and
health majors
65
gender and health minors,
largest minor program of the 3
- Victor Mendoza, associate Women’s Studies professor
*Facts as of Wednesday, these numbers change daily.
113
DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS
Women’s studies faculty, students
discuss themes and misconceptions
The department has expanded significantly since its introduction in 1973
JENNIFER MEER
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See DEPARTMENT, Page 3
In order to better serve
the needs of first-generation
students
on
campus,
the
University of Michigan has
opened the First-Generation
Student Gateway — a study
lounge,
meeting
area
and
information hub concentrated
into one cohesive space.
The University defines first-
generation students as those
who self-identify as not having
prior knowledge of or exposure
to
how
to
succeed
while
attending institutes of higher
learning. These students may
need additional educational
input to get to the same level
of background knowledge as
their peers.
Located
in
the
Student
Activities Building, the space
serves as an access point
for
several
other
student
offices including the Office
of New Student Programs,
Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs
and the Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives.
The space also houses the
office
of
First-Generation
See GATEWAY, Page 3
New space
dedicated
to first-gen
students
ADMINISTRATION
The First-Generation
Student Gateway is a
study lounge and hub
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
Frequent bias incidents affect
campus mental health, experts say
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
Staff, students reflect on the impacts racism has on academic performance, well-being
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
See MENTAL HEALTH, Page 3