The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News Wednesday, January 17, 2018 — 3A today’s society. She emphasized her multicultural background and the influence of her time in Africa on her views regarding the current political climate of the United States. With an Ethiopian mother and white Minnesotan father, Polgreen said that she thinks a lot about American identity in the age of Trump. “But let’s be real — this isn’t a normal president, this isn’t a normal admin, this isn’t a normal time,” Polgreen said. “We have what appears to be an ethnonationalist-influenced regime in the White House … we’re seeing the rollback of protections of queer people like me, we’re witnessing a newly permissive attitude toward hate-speech and hate-crimes that has led to increase in attacks on Jews, Muslims and all kinds of marginalized peoples. We’re also seeing an increase in intolerance in some corners of the country.” Polgreen stated that President Trump attempts to set the definition of American identity through language and policy. Whether it’s his Twitter language or his policies on immigration and health care, the current presidency concerns Polgreen as both a journalist and person. “For me, as the daughter of an African immigrant, as a person of color, as a queer person, as an American, I am watching these conversations unfold with particular alarm,” Polgreen said. Polgreen referenced her time as a foreign correspondent, discussing the lack of free press and the presence of government- controlled press or self-censored journalism in other countries. She told the audience she spent time reading and analyzing the political coverage of the last year, and wondered if the press did enough to recognize the views of Trump supporters. She realized the press wrote about those people rather than for them. “As a journalist I believe that reporting has the power to change the world,” Polgreen said. “If the media ecosystem like so many other institutions has seen this extraordinary drift between the haves and the have-nots journalism has become a highly elite profession that often feels extremely distant from the experiences of the people we write about.” Polgreen expressed concern regarding the inequality in the United States, referencing Trump’s new budget that cuts the Pell Grant fund, a grant that provides students money for college tuition and does not need to be repaid. Polgreen herself was the recipient of a Pell Grant, and credits this program with much of her success. “Inequality feels baked into our society in a way that can’t easily be undone and climate change, her certain doing, has made it all feel super apocalyptic,” she said. Polgreen hopes she, as a journalist and leader in the industry, can be there for those who feel that the political and economic power range is fundamentally unfair. She said she doesn’t feel like the press is currently representing those voices. In an effort to expand the extent of voices represented, HuffPost went on a seven-week- long, 25-city bus tour, hitting smaller, central U.S. cities such as Fort Wayne, Ind. and Livingston, Mo. Polgreen expected to interview about 500 people, but HuffPost ended up hearing the voices of close to 2,000, asking each person what it means to be an American. She said that almost no one talked about Trump and instead focused on the pressing local issues personally affecting them. Polgreen recognized the complexity of the struggles communities faced and how they come together to solve problems. “The experience of traveling this country left me optimistic,” Polgreen said. “But not optimistic in the classic American sense, all of those conversations affirmed my implacable and old-fashioned beliefs that solidarity is possible.” This discussion of solidarity encompasses the unity of people in defense of their beliefs. Polgreen categorizes solidarity as a great strength in times of hardship. LSA freshman Aniela Crayton discussed what she took away from Polgreen’s speech. “Even if you meet someone who has a completely conflicting idea than you, it’s important to listen to what they have to say and that sharing of ideas and conflicting opinions allow progress to happen in American,” Crayton said. If the United States had an official religion, Polgreen joked that it would be amnesia. She discussed how Americans like to forget the past and focus on the future, neglecting how past historical events affect current ones. LSA freshman Taylor Mitchell said she sees this phenomenon of amnesia in reference to U.S. history. “I think from this speech my big takeaway was just to acknowledge that the United States of America is a country that thrives from its diversity, and it’s important to acknowledge the history of this country,” Mitchell said. “We don’t like to go back to the hateful history of this country but it’s important to acknowledge that in order to strive for a more progressive future.” afford a tutor from a company such as Campus Tutors may feel stranded by the University for not better publicizing the financially-accessible resources on campus. One of these individuals is LSA sophomore Abbigayl Burtis. Burtis admitted while she felt a private tutor could have helped her overall performance in certain courses, cost played a role in her decision not to go through with it. “I lacked the time to meet with a tutor, and it costs money,” Burtis said. “I feel like in both calculus and statistics, I could have benefited at least a bit from a tutor. Not as much in calculus, since I was better at that subject, but going over the material with someone who knew it well would have improved my performance in statistics.” Burtis also acknowledged while the University does have tutoring resources, students might not always know that they are available. “(The University) probably (is) good about offering it, but they are not so good at advertising it continuously,” she said. “I think I remember them talking about it at the beginning of the semester. However, that was not when I would have benefited so I did not pay attention. I think it would be useful if they talked about those opportunities more throughout the semester.” Business sophomore Lucas Reynolds is both a University student and private tutor for Campus Tutors. Campus Tutors seeks to offer a comprehensive review of lecture material for courses such as calculus, statistics, chemistry and economics. During the reviews, students are able to go over concepts with a tutor and receive additional practice problems and exams. However, the company charges around about $60 per session. Reynolds discussed his role as a tutor at Campus Tutors. Despite his work with Campus Tutors, Reynolds does not serve as a representative for the company. “My job really is to lead the kind of lecture style review and answer any questions they have, and design the packets,” Reynolds said. Reynolds also admitted even though he believes that private tutoring does offer added benefits for students’ academic performance, he finds the University to have sufficient resources, and has even made use of them himself. “I think the obvious answer is yes, private tutoring does offer an advantage,” Reynolds said. “But I think the University’s resources like the Math Lab and the Science Learning Center for statistics are really great. There are free tutoring resources that I know I utilized a lot even when I took those classes.” The SLC, which Reynolds referenced, is a free resource on campus that offers tutoring and study groups for students enrolled in natural science courses within LSA. Located in the Chemistry Building, the SLC has about 60 tutors on staff every semester, and serves around 3,000 students through its Peer-Led Study Group Program. The SLC is currently in its fourth year of its drop-in tutoring program, and recently developed a mentorship program to help students pursuing STEM degrees at the University. SLC Director Joe Salvatore said he saw the tutoring offered through the SLC to be stronger than that of a private company. Salvatore also echoed Christine Modey, faculty director of the Peer Writing Consultant Program, and said tutors provided through University resources like the Sweetland Center for Writing or the SLC are very well trained. “I would say that I believe that the tutoring provided by the SLC stands up to the quality tutoring that you’d find privately or in many of those companies,” Salvatore said. “In fact, I’d go as far as to say I think that quality of our tutoring is better than what you’d find in the private sector. Part of that is because we provide extensive training for our tutors.” In addition to the quality of the tutors, the SLC ensures they are up to date with the most recent research regarding learning, and they are establishing a welcoming environment for all that come to receive academic aid through their dedication to the DEI plan. “We send our staff to national conferences to learn about what other universities and other outstanding tutoring programs are doing so that we can bring those ideas back here,” Salvatore said. “We are also very committed to DEI, so we do a really good job in training our tutors on those issues. We make sure that whoever comes in to get tutoring in our center is made to feel welcome and supported and that the knowledge that they have is valued and the belief that they can learn anything.” Salvatore also commented on the accessibility of tutoring through the SLC. He said there were usually tutors ready to help students out. “I would say that our services are very accessible,” he said. “Students can drop by and get tutoring. Often times I’ll go into the help room and there are just tutors waiting there ready for people to help.” Another free tutoring resource offered at the University is the Sweetland Center for Writing, which seeks to help undergraduate and graduate students with improving their writing skills. The Center currently has 50 tutors on staff and five locations across both Central and North Campus and an online presence. The Center’s Peer Writing Consultant Program, which pairs students with trained tutors, has held about 3,600 appointments this past year. Modey said the benefits of utilizing the service, instead of those of a private tutoring company, included a strong promotion of student empowerment and well-trained tutors. “The things that we offer are students who have been well trained pedagogically in a way that is effective and that embodies certain principles among which are: empowering students to be in charge of their own writing, helping them to develop skills that will serve them well in future academic writing and future writing work,” Modey said. Modey also pointed out since the peer consultants were typically University students, they are more familiar with the way courses on campus are taught — something that may not be true of private companies. “I think that our consultants are really well prepared because they’re U-M writers, they’re not somebody standing outside the University saying, ‘This is what it should look like,’” Modey said. “They’re people who are in the trenches with students, and I think that peer-to-peer connection can be particularly powerful.” However, Burtis further elaborated on the advantages of being able to afford private help. She said while being able to afford a tutor is beneficial, it can also create disparities between various income levels and academic achievement. “I think that private tutoring is a great resource if you can afford it,” Burtis said. “While the advantage may just be slight for some, it can be large for others, so I do think that it does give an advantage to those who have the expendable money to afford it over those who do not. I think that differences in personal and family income make a lot of difference when it comes to education, and being able to afford additional tutoring is a prime example of how that happens.” injuries such as electrical shocks, as well as thermal burns. “On an 82-degree day, a solar panel can reach as high as 150 to 168 degrees and cause serious burns in about one second,” Majer said. While many residents argued for the safety of the public, others also expressed concern regarding the aesthetic nature of the solar structures themselves, saying these accessories would compromise the natural charm and beauty of Ann Arbor. City Council responded to the public’s concern by amending the ordinance to prohibit solar structures in front yards. Councilmember Jane Lumm, I-Ward 2, said she agreed with the public in their concern regarding the solar structures. “I have received a lot of input from residents overwhelmingly in opposition,” Lumm said. “It is important to indicate that in every instance residents have said that they are supporters of solar and alternate energy sources. Their objection is with allowing the solar panels in front yards.” Councilmember Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward 3, agreed with public commenters, moving for an amendment to the ordinance. “I would rather council move in a different direction,” Ackerman said. “I fundamentally have questions about solar structures in front yards.” Amid discussions regarding solar energy solutions in Ann Arbor, council members also moved to add two new full-time employees to positions within the Sustainability and Innovation Office of the Systems Planning Unit of the Public Services Area. While the movement to add two new employees passed, several council members discussed the negative impact this decision could have on the budget. Lumm expressed her concern the impact adding more employees could have on the budget process. “I do not believe we should be making budget decisions outside of the budget process,” Lumm said. “We are making two positions permanent that were temporary, which is a long-term financial commitment.” Lumm went on to state that recent employment decisions have added a heavy burden to the general fund. “Assuming this tonight passes we will have added over 20 new city staff in the last two years, which is adding over $1 million of recurring annual costs to the general fund,” Lumm said. Palestine not as a conflict, not as an impasse, not as an argument, but we should look at it as settler colonization,” Salaita said. “Peace, actual peace, peace that allows both parties to live in dignity can never be accomplished under a regime of continued settler colonization.” He also argued colonization in the United States has not ended, but instead has persisted in today’s interactions between the United States government and Native Americans. “The idea is that what happened to those native nations was tragic, or horrendous, but it exists in the past and we must come to terms with the realities of those horrors last century or two centuries ago,” Salaita said. “Well, native communities, native nations, are still around, are still alive, and they are still practicing various forms of decolonization.” In comparing the two regions, Salaita argued the issues in Israel and Palestine today are similar to the occupation of Native American land in the United States. He discussed Zionist leader and author Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s essay “Iron Wall,” in which Jabotinsky asserted the existence of Israel is only possible if Palestine does not exist. “The Zionist movement purports to replace one population with another population and if you don’t have the chest for that sort of work then you don’t understand the ideology correctly,” Salaita said. “And what happened in the United States is justified simply by the fact that a superior civilization replaced an inferior one.” In an email interview, LSA senior Kyla Klein, who attended the lecture, wrote Salaita’s definition of Zionism simplified the ideology and represented the entire belief system as one specific branch, which she did not see as fair to the pro-Israel argument. “He used Ze’ev Jabotinsky to describe Zionism, which is actually only one strain of Zionism, Revisionist Zionism,” Klein wrote. “This Zionism is also the most hard-line and conservative. This was his perspective for his argument against Zionism. Regardless if one supports Zionism or not, Zionism is extremely complex and multifaceted.” Salaita concluded his talk by defining his thoughts about what Zionism is and then explaining what it means to him to work against it in the United States today. To work against Zionism, Salaita offered, is to work against injustice everywhere. “To me, Zionism is a belief, whether it’s through a liberal or a conservative paradigm, that a Jewish majority state ought to exist at the expense of those who can lay claim to that land historically,” Salaita said. “Anti- Zionism is something that ought to transcend Palestine. Anti- Zionism, when it’s done correctly is concerned with the equality and the well-being and the dignity of all human beings, including the Jewish people.” LSA senior Andrea, who wishes to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, agreed with Salaita’s points and said she could identify with him. “As a Palestinian student, I’ve heard about Steven Salaita and I can relate to some of the struggles he’s been through, also as a Palestinian activist,” Andrea said. Klein wrote she found Salaita’s depiction of Jewish people in the book to be anti-Semitic, and his answer to her question about some of his wording disappointing. In his book, Salaita describes Jewish American students with the phrase ‘McMansions and shopping malls.’ “I will stand by the line insofar as the fact that I am pointing to the distinct class dynamic that is in play vis-a-vis Palestinians,” Salaita said in response to Klein’s question.“This is a description of college students that gets proffered all the time.” “This language implies that Jews are rich and spoiled, a clear connection to past descriptions,” Klein wrote. “Sadly, instead of answering my question, he focused on an easy target, which was criticizing Taglit-Birthright.” Though back-and-forth remained contained to a few questions and answers during Salaita’s session, two students also spoke against Salaita’s appearance on campus later Tuesday evening at the CSG meeting. Daily and CSG reps to my knowledge were briefed on the incident, I awaited a response from you all,” Lawrence said. “All I heard, all the Jewish community heard, was silence.” Salaita’s lecture was part of the 2018 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium hosted by the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. Lawrence and other Jewish students passed out flyers to audience members prior to the lecture detailing Salita’s 2014 tweets that caused the University of Illinois to deny his faculty appointmentbecause of their concerns of his anti-Semitic tendencies. The flyers also included a definition of anti- Semitism and expressed their concern with Salaita’s endorsement of anti- Semitism. At the lecture, Salaita acknowledged tweets he sent in the midst of the 2014 Israeli-Gazan conflict at the lecture and explained the University of Illinois decision was based on a malicious interpretation of the tweet. Lawrence urged the body to reflect and consider action with anti-Semitism on campus. “Anti-Semitism takes many forms,” Lawrence said. “It sometimes looks like a swastika. Other times it looks like someone using politically correct language to discredit my legitimacy as part of the Jewish people. The inclusive community we are trying to build at this university will be a complete failure if Jews are left out.” Following Lawrence’s speech, CSG Representative Benjamin Gerstein, an LSA freshman, echoed the concerns of Lawrence while speaking to CSG. Gerstein quoted statements made by Salaita at his lecture and shared his concerns about the content. “Salaita was given a platform by faculty and repeated the age-old anti- Semitic statement that world’s problems are to be blamed on the Jewish people,” Gerstein said. “Further, Salaita has described as Jewish lives as McMansions and shopping malls. Today, he refused to walk back these comments from his writing, a clear connection to the anti-Semitic rhetoric used during and before the Holocaust.” Towards the end of the meeting LSA sophomores Haya Akbik and Isabel Baer presented their resolution to have CSG sponsor a visit from Cherie Brown, a social justice dialogue facilitator and coalition builder. The purpose of Brown’s visit would be to help CSG learn how to better engage in dialogue regarding anti-Semitism on campus. Students involved in CSG would be given priority to the event, but Akbik and Baer did suggest the possibility of allowing students involved in outside organizations to attend. “There is a lot of misconception about what anti-Semitism looks like in the 21st century,” Baer said. “It worries me when I see swastikas drawn around campus at places such as the skate park, the rock, the MLB and no one talks about it. As a Jewish person on this campus, anti-Semitism directly affects me; however, it is confusing and complicated and I think this is an amazing opportunity for us as student leaders to learn about an issue that is not only relevant globally and nationally, but also right here at the University of Michigan.” The resolution is still being reviewed by CSG and has not been voted on yet. The meeting concluded with a vote on a resolution originally put forth last semester regarding CSG producing a statement in support of the Lecturer’s Employee Organization. The resolution passed. TUTORING From Page 1A AUTHOR From Page 1A Read more at MichiganDaily.com SALAITA From Page 1A SOLAR From Page 1A IDENTITY From Page 1A Read more at MichiganDaily.com