The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, December 7, 2017 — 3A

including Public Policy junior 
Gabby McFarland, are upset 
about the name of their degree 
from the department. 

“I 
originally 
decided 
to 

minor 
in 
Chinese 
because 

of the benefits of speaking a 
second 
language. 
However, 

once 
I 
studied 
abroad 
in 

China I grew interested in 
the cultural aspects of the 
minor,” McFarland wrote in an 
email. “I feel like there being 
no 
specific 
Chinese 
major 

or 
minor 
is 
fundamentally 

ignorant. Having an Asian 
Language Department fails to 
recognize individual countries 
and 
cultures, 
and 
instead 

groups them.” 

As McFarland said, there 

is no Chinese major or minor. 
Students also can’t get a degree 
in Japanese, Thai, Sanskrit 
or Urdu. But by taking any of 
those languages — or any of 
seven others — for three years, 
plus a few other classes, and a 
student could declare an Asian 
languages and cultures minor. 

According to Ashlee Wolfe, 

curriculum 
and 
student 

services 
manager 
for 
the 

department, this blanket major 
is mostly an administrative 

necessity. Within Wolverine 
Access, majors allow for a 
second, 
specific 
program 

sub-plan to be named. For 
example, Asian studies majors 
can declare a sub-major with a 
further specified area of study, 
and that sub-major will show 
up on their transcript. But this 
same technological capability 
doesn’t exist for minors.

“That 
really 
has 
to 
do 

with 
administrative 
and 

technological capabilities. … 
But they’re still minoring in 
Chinese, they’re still minoring 
in Hindi; it’s just that their 
transcript can’t really reflect 
that,” Wolfe said. “The only 
way it could reflect that is if 
we actually created (eleven) 
separate 
minors 
for 
the 

program and that’s excessive.” 

The Slavic Languages and 

Literatures 
Department, 
on 

the other hand, does offer 
specific minors for different 
languages (although one of its 
minors is a combined minor in 
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian 
languages). 
Prof. 
Michael 

Makin, department director 
of 
undergraduate 
studies, 

explained this separation as a 
way for students to focus in on 
a certain area of Slavic culture. 

“When we have had enough 

teaching 
resources 
and 

courses, we have created a 
minor in each of those other 

language areas, and, indeed, 
it is my own impression that 
students want to take minors 
that 
specifically 
identify 

distinct areas of Slavic culture 
— after all, Czech language and 
culture are radically different 
from, say, Russian, or the South 
Slavic 
area,” 
Makin 
wrote 

in an email. “I would have 
nothing against the creation of 
a minor in ‘Slavic Languages 
and Cultures,’ but, to my mind, 
such a minor would denote 
general coverage of the area.” 

Wolfe said her department 

understands this desire to hone 
in on a certain topic, and the 
minor is set up in a way that 
student can do that. However, 
separate minors are not a 
reality for the department.

“It’s 
a 
little 
bit 
more 

realistic for all other units,” 
she said. “For us, it’s more 
just administratively silly and 
redundant to actually create 
separate 
minors 
for 
every 

single one of our languages 
that qualify for a minor. … 
Minors don’t really get a line 
on a student’s resume. Majors 
get a line on a student’s resume. 
So when it comes to minors it’s 
more about the skills students 
get from these minors … and 
they have the transcript to 
back these up.” 

According to Wolfe, students 

usually don’t have a problem 

with the generality of the 
minor’s name once she explains 
to them how the degree works 
and what employers care about. 
Nonetheless, McFarland still 
didn’t feel satisfied after she 
received a similar story.

“When I declared my minor, 

our conversation was focused 
around my Chinese curriculum 
so it didn’t really occur to 
me that it would eventually 
say 
Asian 
Languages 
on 

my 
transcript,” 
McFarland 

wrote. “I think having an 
Asian 
Languages 
minor 

could negatively impact my 
resume because there could be 
expectations that I might not 
fulfill having only concentrated 
in 
Chinese. 
Additionally, 
I 

chose the Chinese program to 
develop language skills, which 
I would like to explicitly list on 
my resume. An Asian Language 
minor inhibits this.”

Yet, Wolfe said students 

should recognize what they are 
really getting with an Asian 
languages and cultures minor. 

“It’s more about highlighting 

the skill-set you gained from 
a 
minor,” 
she 
said. 
“And 

(students) can easily say that 
they have, for instance, a 
Korean minor, because truly 
they do. The fact that it’s named 
Asian languages and cultures 
is truly just an administrative, 
bureaucratic thing.”

LANGUAGE
From Page 1A

at other schools to compare 
incidents, 
administrative 

response and student activism, 
whether these incidents result 
from a difference in religion, 
culture, politics or policies.

University 
President 
Mark 

Schlissel announced Nov. 21 the 
University planned to proceed 
with Spencer’s request to speak 
on campus, on the condition it 
could ensure him a safe setting. 
The decision was confirmed at 
an emergency meeting for the 
University’s Board of Regents.

Schlissel’s reasons for the 

decision 
were 
trifold. 
He 

explained the University cannot 
restrict the content of speech, 
based on the First Amendment; 
denying Spencer would result 
in more public attention given 
to Spencer; and free speech 
is fundamental to democratic 
society 
— 
an 
attribute 
the 

University must protect. 

Kyle Bristow — an attorney 

for Cameron Padgett, a Georgia 
State 
University 
student 

submitting requests for Spencer 
to speak on multiple campuses 
— tweeted Oct. 27: “This evening 
@CameronVPadgett 
requested 

to rent a room at @UMichfor 
@RichardBSpencer 
to 
speak. 

Your move, @DrMarkSchlissel.” 
Rick Fitzgerald, assistant vice 
president 
for 
public 
affairs, 

confirmed Oct. 31 the University 
was made aware of Spencer’s 
request to speak.

Stop Spencer at the University 

of Michigan — a coalition that 
formed 
in 
response 
to 
the 

request — posted on Facebook 
in 
early 
November, 
saying 

though it knows Schlissel and 
many administrators do not 
want Spencer to come, “they 
have failed to acknowledge the 
severity of the situation and 
have yet to say no to Spencer.” 
The group used the hashtag 
#HailNotHeil.

Nov. 17, they posted a link to 

an article from the Detroit Free 
Press, explaining Bristow would 
give the University until Nov. 24 
to decide if Spencer could speak, 
or face a lawsuit.

The 
night 
of 
Schlissel’s 

announcement, the group called 
on the University community 
to protest the decision. Nov. 25, 
it called for a week of action, 
using the hashtag #StopSpencer. 
Subsequently, during the week 
of Nov. 27, student protesters 
participated 
in 
speak-outs, 

teach-ins and strikes, calling 
on the administration to deny 
Spencer.

The University has yet to 

decide on a safe setting and time 
for Spencer to speak on campus. 
Although the threat of lawsuit 
has been delayed until Friday, it 
is uncertain if it will allow such. 

In an email to The Daily, 

LSA senior Hoai An Pham, the 
press coordinator for the Stop 
Spencer at the University of 
Michigan coalition, wrote the 
administration has not made 
any effort to ensure the safety of 
students. 

“During 
our 
week 
of 

action, which called for the 
administration to take action, 
they only issued a statement 
that they did not support the 
protests (only the teach ins), 
again without offering anything 
productive,” she wrote. “There 
has been no action taken by 
the administration to support 
students.”

Furthermore, 
Pham 

emphasized 
she 
believes 

the statements made by the 
administration 
have 
been 

lackluster. 

“While 
the 
administration 

thinks that simply saying that 
it does not stand for Spencer’s 
ideologies is enough, that is 
an 
inactive 
and 
bystander 

response,” she wrote. “It is easy 
to say that you do not agree 
with Spencer. It is harder to 
admit that in allowing him 
on campus, you are placing 
marginalized students in an 
incredibly dangerous situation. 
A 
statement 
against 
white 

supremacy does not stop a bullet 
from being shot into a crowd, as 
has happened with Spencer and 
his supporters.”

“Spencer has already scored 

a victory”

History 
lecturer 
Anne 

Berg, who spoke at one of the 
#StopSpencer teach-ins, wrote 
in an email to The Daily she was 
not sure why the University is 
taking its current position.

“I suspect it is much for 

the same reason that Florida 
allowed Spencer to appear on 
campus – both Florida and our 
own institution have essentially 
bowed their head and accepted 

the terms of the debate set by 
Spencer and his team, they have 
been complicit with Spencer’s 
insistence that this is an issue 
of free speech rather than one 
of violent threats and dangers to 
student safety,” she wrote. “In 
that respect Spencer has already 
scored a victory.”

To 
Berg, 
the 
debate 

surrounding 
Spencer’s 

appearances 
are 
incorrectly 

attributed to free speech, rather 
than the violence rhetoric within 
Spencer’s “ideas.” She said his 
denial of people and their right 
to exist was very much a threat.

“Spencer’s platform denies the 

right to exist for Black people and 
people of color more generally. 
Accordingly, the mere presence 
of people of color seems to be 
taken as a provocation by many 
of Spencer’s supporters and 
accordingly they feel entitled 
and emboldened to follow up on 
Spencer’s “ideas” with their fists, 
cars and guns,” she explained.

Schlissel, in a school-wide 

email, emphasized his disgust 
for Spencer and his beliefs. 
This has been reflected in other 
schools as well.

In December 2016, Spencer 

spoke at Texas A&M University. 
According to an article from 
The Battalion — the university’s 
student newspaper — Spencer 
was greeted with applause and 
boos. He was asked to speak on 
campus by Preston Wiginton, a 
former student, amid negative 
reactions 
from 
the 
campus 

community. 
The 
university’s 

president, 
in 
fact, 
endorsed 

several guest speakers who came 

to campus to “counter” Spencer.

At a protest during the event, 

Texas A&M University student 
Aaron Blasband, the student 
president of Texas A&M Hillel, 
said he opposed neo-Nazism.

“I’m 
here 
because 
I 
am 

against white supremacy,” he 
said. “I am against neo-Nazism 
as a Jew. My grandparents 
were in the Holocaust and a 
large majority of my family was 
killed in the Holocaust from 
very similar thinking to this. So 
when something is going on like 
this it makes me want to go out 
there and spread love more than 
anything else.”

Alt-right 
organizers 
then 

scheduled 
a 
“white 
lives 

matter” event to take place on 
Sept. 11, 2017 at the university; 
Spencer was supposed to speak 
at the event. However, in a 
press release, the university 
administration 
canceled 
the 

event due to safety concerns.

Aug. 16, Janine Sikes, assistant 

vice president of public affairs at 
the University of Florida, said in 
a statement the university would 
deny Spencer his request to rent 
space, following concerns for 
campus safety. However, once 
it was faced with a lawsuit, the 
university relented and allowed 
Spencer to speak on campus in 
October.

U-F President Kent Fuchs 

said in a video announcement 
the university’s values do not 
align with those of Spencer. 
He encouraged students to not 
attend the October event.

“The values of our universities 

are not shared by Mr. Spencer, 

the National Policy Institute 
or his followers,” he said. “Our 
campuses 
are 
places 
where 

people from all races, origins 
and religions are welcomed and 
are treated with love. … I urge 
you to do two things. First, do 
not provide Mr. Spencer and 
his followers the spotlight they 
are seeking. I urge everyone to 
stay away from Phillips Center 
October 19. Second, although I 
urge you to avoid the Spencer 
event, I ask that you do not let 
Mr. Spencer’s message of hate 
and racism go unchallenged. 
Make it clear that messages of 
hate on our campus are contrary 
to our values.”

In an article from the Florida 

Alligator — the University of 
Florida’s 
student 
publication 

— Oggi Parry, a senior at the 
university, 
protested 
Spencer 

at the October event. He said 
he voted for President Donald 
Trump in the 2016 election, 
but he wanted to show Trump 
supporters do not align with 
Spencer. He wrapped his body in 
an American flag and wore red, 
white and blue sunglasses.

“Conservative views are not 

(Spencer’s) views,” he said. “We 
are not with him.”

Back in Michigan, University 

Regent 
Mark 
Bernstein 
(D) 

said to deny Spencer would 
be an immoral act of the First 
Amendment. Schlissel echoed 
similar upholding values of the 
First Amendment in his school-
wide email.

SPENCER
From Page 1A

that teach them about STEM 
fields, as well as others. This 
part is led by Lab coordinator 
LaShawn Sims, who explained 
the importance of introducing 
youth to career fields and the 
emphasis of personal assets.

“They do an activity that is 

called the Strengths, Interests 
and Values, where they look at 
their own individual strengths, 
interests and values,” Sims 
said. “They are able to look at 
about 45 different careers and 
determine what would be a 
good fit for them based on their 
own characteristics.”

The second half of the 

program 
follows 
with 
the 

conceptualization of an idea or 

invention by the students, and 
then its subsequent creation. 
Lab coordinator Haley Hart 
facilitate 
this 
part 
of 
the 

program, 
which 
highlights 

the engineering and hands-on 
aspect of the program.

The lab hosts about 30 

students 
per 
day 
and 
is 

predicted to host approximately 
3,000 students in one year.

While the original Thinkabit 

model has been functioning 
at 
Qualcomm’s 
San 
Diego 

headquarters for four years, the 
Detroit Thinkabit Lab began 
its soft launch in September 
and has been perfecting the 
program for the past two 
months.

The Detroit lab is the second 

Thinkabit location, excluding 
the headquarters in San Diego. 
Virginia Tech partnered with 
Qualcomm in fall 2016, opening 
a workshop at its Northern 
Virginia Center.

Plans for the MEZ and the 

Thinkabit lab include possibly 
expanding available programs 
to the summer. 

“Really, the progress or the 

outcome that we’re looking is 
for kids to have opportunities 
to learn about STEM careers, 
and get involved in hands on 
activities that would get them 
interested 
in 
learning 
and 

following down that pathway,” 
Hart said.

STEM
From Page 1A

managing the event would be 
uniquely vulnerable. One of her 
supervisors, she said, alerted 
her 
that 
Spencer’s 
requests 

specified the Unions, some of 
the few buildings on campus 
available for public rent.

“Students 
are 
central 
to 

any event held in University 
Unions,” Proegler said. “We’re 
responsible for A/V — including 
the 
microphone 
he 
might 

speak in — tables and chairs, 
troubleshooting 
… 
student 

workers cannot be removed 
from the equation.”

Multiple 
employees 
said 

building directors did not broach 
workers’ concerns until talk of 
protest reached administrators 
this week. LSA junior Tim 
Williams, 
Michigan 
Union 

building manager, met with the 
Union building director Amy 
White on Monday about the 
sit-in. White told Williams the 
protest as planned would violate 
multiple building policies — the 
same ones employees are paid 
to enforce — including building 
hours and misuse of room keys. 
Student employees participating 
in the sit-in, she said, would do 
so at risk of losing their jobs or 
being replaced by other workers.

“I thought that was fair. 

Violating building policy comes 
with consequences,” Williams 
said. “Amy suggested we sit in 
the hallway during business 
hours instead. People could be 
fired as a result of that specific 
protest.” 

Unions senior director Susan 

Pile wrote in an email statement 
administrators 
would 
not 

encroach on workers’ freedom 
outside their jobs. 

“Student 
employees 
are 

an 
important 
part 
of 
our 

organization and would not 
lose their jobs for engaging in 
protest activity outside of their 
work responsibilities. We seek 
to provide a work environment 
that is supportive and flexible 
for student employees in all 
kinds of ways,” she wrote.

Still, both students agreed, 

administrators failed to take 
initiative on quelling employees’ 
fears. Williams said his meeting 
on the protest finally signaled to 
administrators that “we haven’t 
really talked to our employees 
and maybe we should.” He 
called these efforts, however, “a 
little late.” 

Proegler said scheduling a 

meeting with Xavier Wilson, her 
building director at the League, 
was like “pulling teeth.”

“He was dismissive of student 

worker concerns,” she said. “The 
assumption was that if (Spencer) 

comes, of course it’s going to 
be safe. Our greatest fear is 
that they are going to suddenly 
thrust the event on us in a way 
that disempowers us.”

At 
past 
Unions 
events 

featuring controversial speakers 
like Milo Yiannopoulos two 
years ago and Charles Murray 
earlier this semester, student 
workers still set up the rooms 
and were in close contact with 
the 
event, 
though 
Proegler 

said administrators made up 
most of the staff for the event 
itself. Part of the uncertainty 
around employees and Spencer 
stems from the vague nature 
of the event status — the event 
might not even take place in 
the Unions, as the buildings are 
difficult to secure. 

“It is too early to say how 

we might staff an event, if 
one even occurs,” University 
spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen 
wrote in an email statement. 

Uncertainty 
around 
the 

circumstances 
of 
Spencer’s 

appearance is at the core of 
most students’ grievances with 
the negotiation process. In an 
interview with The Daily last 
week, 
University 
President 

Mark Schlissel was reluctant to 
detail who would be involved 
in deliberations around what 
safety meant.

“I don’t want to discuss the 

details — it will be people that 

are trusted to understand the 
legal issues that are involved 
and the public safety issues 
involved,” he said.

League 
building 
manager 

Natalie Ramos, a Social Work 
student, said her workers at the 
League — half of whom she said 
were students of color — have a 
stake in the definition of safety.

“As a Latina woman of color, I 

want the right to determine my 
own safety. And as a supervisor, 
I don’t want to obligate other 
students of color to come to (an 
event with Spencer) and direct 
them,” she said.

“I would feel an immense 

amount of guilty and mental 
burden to take all this effort, but 
to no avail,” Ramos continued. 
“We don’t think people are 
listening.”

Given Pile’s stated flexibility, 

all 
three 
employees 
agreed 

students likely would not be 
penalized for not working the 
event. Williams noted, though, 
event duties can only be shirked 
so far.

“Students would likely be 

asked to be there, but maybe 
we would be exempted,” he 
said. “But even then, temporary 
workers, who are often more 
disenfranchised and vulnerable, 
cannot call in sick. You can’t 
get robots to staff the event. 
Someone’s going to have to do 
it.” 

UNIONS
From Page 1A

With the 

Thinkabit lab, 
it definitely just 
expands on the 
mission of the 

MEZ

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

