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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. 

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