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Tuesday, January 23, 2018 — 3

you see how much harder it is 
for you in the field. When you do 
poorly on a test, you think it’s just 
because of you, whereas men tend 
to externalize their failures.”

The 
feelings 
Danes 
and 

Tushman describe are common 
among many women, according 
to Economics Prof. Linda Tesar. 
Tesar said data points to women 
thinking their failures are more 
about 
themselves, 
with 
men 

thinking the opposite.

“There’s a lot of evidence out 

there that men and women respond 
to grade signals in different ways,” 
Tesar said. “Women students 
interpret that it’s more about their 
ability, whereas men tend to — 
now, I’m grossly exaggerating — on 
average men tend to interpret the 
grade signal as external to them; 
the class, the GSI, and less about 
their ability.”

Tesar is part of a team of 

faculty and lecturers studying 
the experiences of women and 
underrepresented minorities in 
the economics program: Gender 
Learning Analytics at Michigan-
Economics. In order to encourage 
these populations to continue 
studying economics, GLAM-E is 
looking into data like the differing 
interpretations of grades, and their 
implications.

“We’re studying that data and 

learning about what the grade 
signal means and whether having 
a low GPA in a class perhaps is 
discouraging students that we 
don’t want to discourage from 
going forward,” Tesar said.

GLAM-E’s end goal is to 

encourage 
women 
to 
pursue 

economics as a career by imparting 
younger 
women 
with 
more 

mentors; right now, the gender 
distribution is far from ideal. Out 
of 71 faculty members listed on the 
Economics Department website, 
only 15 are women. George Fenton, 
a Ph.D. candidate in the Economics 
Department, said in his first two 
years he has not been taught by 
a single female faculty member. 
LSA senior Reema Kaakarli said 
she has had one female economics 
professor in her four years.

The Economics Department 

at 
the 
University 
holds 
an 

alumni panel each year called 
Economics@Work. 
This 
year, 

seven of the nine alumni speakers 
are men. Rackham student Ivy 
Tran said she has noticed the 
imbalance.

“One thing that I thought was 

really interesting though is a lot 

of alumni events held by the Econ 
Department — the alumni tends 
to be male, given the nature that I 
can imagine about twenty or thirty 
years ago, it was predominantly a 
male field,” Tran said.

Economics lecturer Mitchell 

Dudley organizes this panel. In 
an email interview, he expressed 
the difficulty he has in finding a 
diverse set of alumni.

“Given that I don’t have access 

to a master list of alumni, I must 
rely largely on recommendations,” 
he wrote. “In this case, I struggle 
to present a demographically 
diverse set of speakers. This is 
truly frustrating at times.”

Tushman said in her core 

economics classes, she’d always 
seek out a female GSI even if that 
GSI weren’t her own. She talked 
about the need for more female 
role models, and how inspiring it 
was when she saw Janet Yellen, 
the chair of the Federal Reserve, 
speaklast year. 

“It’s important to have people 

to look up to,” Tushman said. “We 
got to go see Janet Yellen when 
she came, and that was one of the 
coolest things that’s ever happened 
to me.”

Even 
on 
the 
level 
of 

economic textbooks, women are 
underrepresented. 
Stevenson 

conducted a study with Rackham 
student 
Hanna 
Zlotnick 
on 

mentions of males and females 
in 
introductory 
economics 

textbooks, 
and 
discovered 
6 

percent of real business leaders 
mentioned are women, whereas 
they are 41 percent of made-up 
or “ordinary” people reviewed in 
examples. Stevenson discussed 
the importance of having diversity 
in textbooks in order to resonate 
with as many students as possible. 
From her study, it is clear many 
textbooks don’t fit the bill.

“We use what we have from 

the past to prepare them for the 
future,” Stevenson said. “Diversity 
has definitely improved with time, 
so textbooks from the past have 
less diversity than we want.”

LSA 
senior 
Shannon 
Hsu 

discussed 
the 
varying 
levels 

of comfort she felt in taking 
classes with different professors. 
She found she did better with 
professors that were friendlier 
and 
more 
approachable. 
She 

also noted the difference in 
discussion sections of her two 
majors: International Studies and 
Economics.

“International Studies is very 

different from Econ in that it’s very 
inclusive,” Hsu said. “It always 
feels like a safe environment, 
whereas the discussions I’ve had 

for Econ core classes have been 
more hostile in the sense that the 
GSI is only there to teach what 
is required of him, not build that 
connection with the student.”

This hostility is apparent in the 

economics field at large. Fenton 
said within the discipline when 
someone presents their research 
they are then subject to somewhat 
aggressive questions from the 
audience. He suggested this could 
be a reason women might be 
discouraged. 

“One thing I’ve realized is 

that 
the 
economics 
seminar 

environment 
all 
over 
the 

country is especially hostile and 
combative, or just downright rude 
sometimes,” Fenton said. “I don’t 
know if that’s related at all to the 
gender issue, but I do know that it’s 
a very intimidating environment, 
I know for a fact more than many 
other disciplines when it comes to 
presenting research.”

Tran agreed the economics 

environment is tough. She said she 
feels the need to be more persistent 
when voicing her opinions.

“If I’m the only female in a group 

and I say something, oftentimes I 
have to repeat myself or I have to 
speak a little bit stronger,” Tran 
said. “I have to stand my ground in 
order to be heard.”

Kaakarli said she thinks this 

intimidating culture is the main 
problem, rather than explicit bias 
or discrimination.

“I don’t know if I would say 

that there have been any outright 
incidences 
of 
discrimination,” 

Kaakarli said. “The main issue is 
just that there’s a culture that’s not 
as welcoming.”

Organizations 
such 
as 
the 

Society of Women in Economics for 
undergraduates and the Women 
in Economics group in the Ph.D. 
program provide women with 
more comfortable environments 
in order to offset this hostile one. 
Tushman, president of SWIE, 
said the goal of the organization 
is “to create an empowering space 
for women who are interested in 
economics.” SWIE holds events 
such as female alumni panels, 
study sessions and resume/cover 
letter workshops.

These problems may not be as 

visible to those they don’t directly 
affect. Fenton said he doesn’t think 
about these issues as he goes about 
his studies in economics.

“On a day-to-day basis, this is 

just not something I pay a lot of 
attention to,” he said. “That in 
itself in a way is an indictment...” 

division 
in 
the 
community. 

Others took issue with the faculty 
deploring any individual at all 
rather than judging their actions 
separately from the person.

In defense of the statement, 

SACUA 
member 
Stefan 

Szymanski, professor of sport 
management, said SACUA was 
trying their best to appease a large 
audience.

“I 
think 
there 
are 
many 

aspects of this statement that 
people might not agree with one 
hundred percent, there are bits 
of language people might change, 
so we tried to frame something 
that we thought would command 
the 
widest 
possible 
assent 

without necessarily aspiring to 
universality,” Szymanski said.

Szymanski 
also 
said 
the 

statement was an attempt to 
help and support students who 
felt 
extremely 
isolated 
and 

unsupported by faculty in light of 

the Richard Spencer issue.

English Prof. Anne Curzan, 

chair of the Academic Performance 
Committee, and Professor Ketra 
Armstrong, the Faculty Athletics 
Representative, also visited the 
Senate and discussed the academic 
performance of student-athletes.

Curzan, who served as Faculty 

Athletics Representative before 
Armstrong, spoke about how 
people at the University generalize 
the student-athlete community, 
and speak about athletics as a 
whole when they really mean 
specific teams.

“One of the things I’ve found 

while moving around campus is 
that everyone on campus is that 
everyone on campus except really 
our student athletes and the folks 
in the athletic department forget 
what large and diverse group 
students athletes are,” Curzan 
said.

Curzan also brought up the 

anxiety many student athletes feel 
about the attitude towards them 
on campus.

“The attitude towards student-

athletes on this campus is not 
always positive,” Curzan said. 
“They feel like they walk into a 
classroom and there can be an 
assumption that they are not there 
to get an education, that they are 
not a serious student. Some of 
our student-athletes choose not 
to self identify as student athletes 
because they’re worried about 
the attitudes that faculty or other 
student in the class may bring.”

Curzan highlighted all the 

various 
things 
that 
student-

athletes at the University have to 
juggle, and how exhausting it can 
be.

“If you have a swimmer in your 

class, and you have an 8:30 a.m. 
class, that student has already 
been in the pool for two hours, and 
they are going back to the pool at 3 
or 4 to swim for two more hours,” 
Curzan said.

Armstrong 
discussed 
the 

various honors that have been 
awarded to Michigan’s student-
athletes, such as the 80 Big Ten 
Distinguished Scholars, student-
athletes that have GPAs of 3.7 

or higher, and three student-
athletes at the University who 
were selected as Academic All-
Americans.

Curzan also discussed faculty 

accommodations 
for 
students 

to allow them to represent the 
University 
in 
their 
athletic 

competitions while at the same 
time being able to succeed in 
their classes. Armstrong spoke 
about 
the 
balance 
professors 

have to strike between keeping 
the integrity of the class while 
avoiding being punitive to the 
student.

Business junior Megan Schulte, 

a member of the women’s lacrosse 
team, said in an interview with 
The Daily she felt that juggling 
being an athlete and a Business 
student 
was 
difficult, 
but 

manageable if done efficiently.

“As long as I plan out my day 

and just stay on top of my work it’s 
all manageable, but it takes a lot 
of effort every day to make sure 
that I am on top of both school 
and lacrosse,” Schulte said. “The 
kids in my class have gotten a 

lot more understanding over the 
years, and the teachers, if I have 
to miss a class or anything, they 
are always so nice. I can make an 
appointment with them to go see 
them and figure out what I missed 
and make up the work as well.”

Toward the end of the meeting, 

Gina Cervetti, the chair of the 
Student 
Relations 
Advisory 

Committee, and Erik Wessel, the 
director of the Office of Student 
Conflict 
Resolution, 
came 
to 

discuss the progress made on 
the Statement of Student Rights 
and Responsibilities, which is 
to be amended in the 2018-2019 
academic year. The Statement 
outlines possible behaviors that 
are not consistent with the values 
of the University community, 
and suggests possible responses 
and sanctions to respond to such 
behaviors.

Cervetti 
said 
they 
were 

starting the process early, in 
order to increase participation 
and visibility of the amendment 
process, as well as of the Statement 
in general.

“I want to acknowledge that 

this has been a really challenging 
year for many members of our 
community, and that many of 
these challenges have related to 
campus climate and community 
norms,” Cervetti said. “I hope that 
we can approach this amendment 
cycle as an opportunity to shape 
the norms of our community 
in ways that are responsive to 
current issues on campus. The 
Statement isn’t all about sanctions. 
It’s also about who we want to 
be as a community; it describes 
a community that is safe, and 
scholarly, 
and 
equitable, 
and 

just, and revising the Statement 
to better conform with those 
values in the current time seems 
incredibly important.”

The assembly also nominated 

members of the Faculty Senate to 
sit on the nominating committee 
that will choose faculty to fill the 
three or four new Senate Advisory 
Committee on University Affairs 

imagine.”

In 
terms 
of 
administrative 

decisions surrounding the Nassar 
case, MSU President Lou Anna 
Simon has received harsh criticism 
for the ways in which she handled 
allegations against Nassar. In a 
statement released last week, Simon 
told reporters she was first made 
aware of a Title IX investigation 
into a University sports medicine 
doctor in 2014.

“I told people to play it straight 

up, and I did not receive a copy 
of the report,” she said following 
Nassar’s hearing. “That’s the truth.” 

An investigation released last 

week by the Detroit News, however, 
found over the two decades before 
Nassar’s arrest, at least 14 MSU 

officials were notified of allegations, 
“with no fewer than eight women 
reporting his actions.” Calls for 
Simon’s resignation have come from 
a variety of sources, including state 
legislators, editorials from the State 
News and Lansing State Journal, 
as well as from MSU trustee Mitch 
Lyons, the first trusteeto call for her 
resignation.

The Board of Trustees, however, 

announced 
Thursday 
would 

support Simon and would not 
recommend she step down from her 
position.

Though Schlissel is one of 

the state’s most powerful — and 
moneyed — political stakeholders, 
when questioned on how MSU 
administration should go about 
taking responsibility or repairing 
harm done to students, he declined 
to comment.

“As for MSU and how it handled 

it, I don’t know more than I read 
about 
in 
the 
newspaper 
and 

generally when I don’t know 
more than everybody else I’m not 
really going to comment about it,” 
Schlissel said. “I just can’t add to 
the debate because I don’t have any 
special information.”

He clarified, however, sexual 

assault and misconduct have no 
place within the University of 
Michigan 
community. 
While 

the Nassar trials brought to light 
consideration of athletic teams, 
he said the issue extends to all 
students, faculty and community 
members.

“It’s not just athletic teams, here 

on this campus I’m responsible for 
45,000 students … 1,000 of them are 
student-athletes,” Schlissel said. “All 
members of our community deserve 
a workplace free of harassment and 
misconduct.”

Specific actions the University 

has 
taken 
to 
combat 
sexual 

assault and harassment, Schlissel 
explained, 
include 
mechanisms 

for 
reporting 
misconduct 
and 

education programs for students, 
faculty and staff to raise awareness 
of harmful and abusive acts and 
lessen the frequency of these 
incidents.

Sexual 
Assault 
and 

Misconduct: 
The 
Whisper 

Network

In early January, The Daily 

reported on The Whisper Network, 
a database appearing throughout 
academic communities in which 
anonymous 
contributors 
share 

their stories of sexual harassment 
and assault in academia. Since 
December, over 2,000 individuals 
have contributed to the database, 
including 14 incidents self-reported 
by alleged University affiliates, 

some of which date back to the 
1980s.

These allegations have mirrored 

conversations 
occurring 
across 

the nation and in Hollywood, 
specifically 
with 
movements 

such as #MeToo and #TimesUp 
encouraging survivors to speak 
out against perpetrators. With 
allegations 
against 
well-known 

members of the public and media, 
including 
Harvey 
Weinstein, 

Matt Lauer, James Franco, Al 
Franken and Michael Oreskes, 
dialogue surrounding the issue has 
continued to grow in academia and 
less publicized settings.

Schlissel stated the coming 

forward of survivors in communities 
across the nation and abroad, 
regardless of level of previous fame, 
allows for an increase in awareness 
and the encouragement for more 
survivors to continue telling their 

stories.

“The famous and non-famous 

stepping forward to tell their stories 
I think has a powerful effect, a 
positive, powerful effect,” Schlissel 
said. “If there’s a silver lining to 
the #MeToo moment that we’re 
living in, is the increased awareness 
and the very brave example set 
by people who’ve stepped up and 
spoken about episodes, have made 
others more likely to step forward 
and report which is a good thing, 
and has just raised everyone’s 
cautiousness about the mutual 
respect that everyone deserves 
when we treat one another.”

At the University — and at 

campuses across the country — 
reporting rates remain low for 
survivors of assault. 

“Almost half of our student body 

is out of state, a lot of students take 
this break time to go home, and we 
think it’s actually a good mental 
health initiative because students 
are juggling getting out of town and 
travel plans,” Keller said. “I have 
certainly seen students bringing 
suitcases into exams … and that’s 
a big concern because we don’t 
think students should have to be 
worrying about these two things 
simultaneously.”

Keller cited Carnegie Mellon 

University as one of several schools 
that have successfully implemented 
similar 
policies. 
He 
affirmed 

student feedback and discussion 
with professors and administration 
will 
be 
instrumental 
to 
the 

development of this policy.

Several members of the council 

expressed reservations limiting 
this policy to only certain breaks, 
such as Thanksgiving and Spring 

Break, as opposed to Martin 
Luther King Jr. Day and the fall 
study break. Other representatives 
expressed their appreciation of 
finishing all of their exams directly 
before break.

“In general the feelings at the 

School of Public Health are we 
really like having it on the last day 
of class, and then we’re done,” CSG 
representative Taylor Sullivan said, 
who is a Public Health student.

The majority of representatives 

agreed this policy would be 
effective for Thanksgiving and 
Spring Break, especially for post-
break days. CSG Vice President 
Nadine Jawad, a Public Policy 
senior, highlighted the importance 
of taking a mental rest over 
designated vacations.

“I think it’s just worth exploring 

what that means because when you 
only have a nine-day break, or a six-
day break, and then you have to use 
five of those days to study for a Bio 
exam that is the day after, which 
is what happened to me my spring 
break, that took away my entire 

break,” Jawad said.

Later, LSA senior Joe Goldberg, 

chief of staff to the CSG president, 
presented a resolution to fund and 
join a partnership with Michigan 
Hillel to bring Cherie Brown, CEO 
and co-founder of the National 
Coalition Building Institute, to lead 
a training on the manifestations of 
contemporary anti-Semitism.

“The idea is that CSG will 

hopefully 
contribute 
some 

financial sum, as well as encourage 
representatives on the executive 
and legislative levels to attend the 
training,” Goldberg said.

The 
council 
concluded 
by 

discussing initiatives to spread 
awareness of the Big Ten Voting 
Challenge, a competition in which 
all 14 universities in the Big Ten 
Conference 
seek 
to 
increase 

voter registration and turnout 
in the student population. While 
no 
specific 
committee 
action 

was taken, CSG representative 
Naomi 
Wilson, 
a 
Rackham 

student, mentioned that she sent 
information in their newsletter.

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SCHLISSEL
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