LSA junior Anna Tushman 

took an AP economics in high 
school and loved it. She came 
to the University of Michigan 
expecting to major in math but 
decided to take Econ 101 and 
found herself fascinated by its 
rational, logical thought process. 
Her 101 class had a fair mixture 
of women and men, but as she 
progressed through the major, 
she found the number of female 
students in her classes leveling 
off. Out of boredom one day in her 
econometrics discussion section, 
she counted the students in the 
class and saw there were four 
male students to every one female.

This drop off holds true when 

considering the numbers. More 
than half of the student body 
of LSA consists of women. Yet, 
according to data kept by the LSA 
Economics Department, women 
are 39 percent of the students 
taking introductory economics 
courses. Women then account for 
about a third of the Econ major.

The disparity isn’t unique to 

the University — the Committee 
on the Status of Women in 
the 
Economics 
Profession 

in 
the 
American 
Economics 

Association did a study surveying 
126 
economic 
departments 

nationwide, finding while women 
make up 33 percent of first-year 
students, they make up only 13 
percent of full, tenured professors 
as of 2016.

While STEM fields also have 

trouble attracting women to their 
classes, intro level courses in the 
Physics Department have a higher 
representation of women than 
in the Economics Department, 
according to Betsey Stevenson, 
associate 
public 
policy 
and 

economics professor.

“It is sort of striking that 

physics is doing a better job of 
getting women into introductory 
physics than economics is in 
introductory 
economics 
at 

Michigan,” Stevenson said. “There 
are questions to be asked of why is 

it that the University of Michigan 
has such a low gender share. But 
they’re not easy answers.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Madeleine 

Danes said a key reason many 
of her female friends stopped 
taking economic classes after the 
intro course was because of lower 
grades.

“Some 
of 
them 
dropped 

because they didn’t do well,” 
Danes said. “If you don’t do well 
in those introductory classes, you 
might be discouraged.”

Tushman 
echoed 
this 

sentiment, 
saying 
when 
she 

does poorly on a test, she feels 
discouraged and less confident 
in her abilities, especially when 
she reads about the difficulties 
women face in the economic field. 
She doesn’t think men absorb 
their failures in the same kind of 
way.

“Women tend to internalize 

things more,” Tushman said. “I 
don’t want to make that a sweeping 
generalization, but I know I do it. 
It’s easy to get discouraged when 
In its second meeting of the 

semester, the University Council 
assembled 
Monday 
night 
to 

discuss student break reform, an 
anti-Semitism training and the Big 
Ten Voting Challenge.

Public Policy senior Ben Keller, 

senior policy advisor to LSA senior 
Anushka Sarkar, the University 
of Michigan’s Central Student 
Government 
president, 
began 

the meeting with presenting a 
reform for the way that exams are 
administered at the University, 
with the implementation of a 
“reading day” policy. This action 
would prevent professors from 
scheduling exams on the day 
immediately 
preceding 
and 

following a scheduled break.

According to Keller, the reading 

day policy would primarily benefit 
the mental health of students so 
they would not have to dedicate a 
substantial amount of time over 
shorter breaks studying for exams. 
Additionally, this is often stressful 
for out-of-state students who often 
need to travel home and suffer 
from further shortened time off 
from classes.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, January 23, 2018

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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 60
©2018 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

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

See COUNCIL, Page 3

‘U’ Council 
talks new 
exam time 
restriction

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Proposed reading period 
around break times may 
benefit student wellness

KATHERINA SOURINE

Daily Staff Reporter

Women in Economics

The entry of women into PhD programs was 31% in 2016.

Women are 39% of introductory economics courses at the University of Michigan. 

Women are about a third of economics majors at the University of Michigan. 

In introductory economics textbooks, women, as compared to men, are 
mentioned 6% of the time as a real business 

AMANDA CRISCI/Daily

Female faculty, students in Economics
confront disparities in hiring, classes

Steep drop-off in enrollment after intro classes create gender imbalance in department

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See ECONOMICS, Page 3

At 
its 
meeting 
Monday 

afternoon, 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan’s 
Senate 
Assembly 

discussed the Senate Advisory 
Committee on Undergraduate 
Affairs’ 
statement 
that 
was 

released on the Faculty Senate 
website under the tab on the site 
entitled Faculty Against Hate, 
which outlined the Faculty’s 
position against acts of hatred 
and bigotry on campus. Senate 
Assembly chair Robert Ortega 
asked for comments or concerns 
regarding the statement.

“The Faculty stand with our 

students, staff, administration 
and broader Michigan community 
in deploring those who seek to 
inspire violence and division 
against and within our society,” 
the statement reads. “Acts that 
promote hate, prejudice, racism, 
bigotry, and discrimination are 
reprehensible.”

Some members of the Assembly 

raised concerns about the way the 
first sentence was phrased, saying 
it could be problematic for the 
statement to read that the faculty 
deplored anyone who inspired 

See ASSEMBLY, Page 3

Assembly 
discusses 
statement 
on bigotry

ACADEMICS

Senate Assembly also 
talks academic success of 
student-athletes at ‘U’

MOLLY NORRIS
Daily Staff Reporter

The City of Ann Arbor’s 

Solid Waste Fund reportedly 
decreased this year due to 
other 
Post 
Employment 

Benefits and the shutdown 
of 
the 
Materials 
Recovery 

Facility, 
which 
resulted 
in 

higher recycling costs. Yet, 
despite largely distorted fund 
statuses during a meeting with 
City Councilmembers and the 
Environmental 
Commission, 

the City reports the fund is 
currently at a healthy balance.

The 
Solid 
Waste 
Plan 

manages a system for recycling 
collection, which is financially 
supported by the Solid Waste 
Fund, 
an 
enterprise 
fund 

operating in a business format. 
According to Councilmember 
Chip Smith, D-Ward 5, the 2013 
to 2017 Solid Waste Resource 
Plan does not adequately meet 
the Council’s recycling and 
solid 
waste 
goals; 
moving 

toward a financially sustainable 
Zero Waste plan. As a result, the 

city is in the process of drafting 
a revised plan for 2018 and has 
already released a Request for 
Proposal.

“The plan does not adequately 

identify or address steps to get 
to zero waste,” Smith wrote in 
an email interview. “We also 
need to look at how we pay 
for solid waste, recycling and 
compost services.”

However, 

miscommunication 
between 

the City Council and the 
Environmental 
Commission 

raised concerns about the status 
of the Solid Waste Fund. Based 
on a staff report, Susan Hutton 
spoke before the Council at last 
month’s meeting and discussed 
her concerns of drastic Solid 
Waste Fund decreases and 
understaffing.

“In 2015, the Solid Waste 

Fund 
balance 
was 
$15.1 

million,” Hutton said. “In 2019, 
the fund is projected to fall to 
$3.2 million, a drop of almost 
$12 million in four years. $5.2 
million was spent on retirement 
expenses, which was necessary. 

Solid Waste 
Fund steady 
despite false 
data reports

Schlissel: “I just can’t add to the 
debate” on Larry Nassar, MSU

See WASTE, Page 2

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily

President Schlissel discusses University actions regarding sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement, protections for undocumented stu-
dents, and the University’s commitment to affordability at the Fleming building Monday. 

ANN ARBOR

Miscommunication in fund balances 
from staff reports cause confusion

ALEX COTT

Daily Staff Reporter

University president talks Nassar trial, DACA protections, free speech in interview

The 
Daily 
sat 
down 
with 

University of Michigan President 
Mark Schlissel to get his take on 
sexual assault charges against 
ex-USA gymnastics team doctor 
Larry Nassar, ongoing negotiations 
with white supremacist Richard 
Spencer 
and 
protections 
for 

undocumented students on campus.

While he declined to comment 

on specific methods by which 

the Michigan State University 
administration, 
including 
the 

heavily criticized MSU President 
Lou Anna Simon, can work to 
take responsibility for the years 
of abuse Nassar inflicted upon his 
victims, Schlissel pivoted to how 
his administration is attempting to 
promote spaces in which survivors 
of sexual assault feel safe to speak 
out on campus.

Sexual 
Assault 
and 

Misconduct: The Larry Nassar 
Trial

Survivors of sexual assault and 

harassment continue to make waves 

around the country by coming 
forward with impact statements 
against 
Nassar, 
a 
University 

alum and former Michigan State 
University doctor, at his sentencing 
trial in Ingham County. Nassar pled 
guilty to seven counts of first degree 
sexual 
misconduct 
in 
Ingham 

County and three counts in Eaton 
County, including sexual assault 
and abuse of girls as young as six 
years old.

Schlissel provided his sympathy 

and 
respect 
for 
survivors, 

acknowledging the courage it takes 
for survivors to come forward with 

their testimonies.

“My heart goes out to what 

appear to be hundreds of victims 
of 
a 
corrupt 
physician 
who 

committed multiple illegal acts 
over an extended period of time,” 
he said. “The young women in 
particular who came forward to 
tell their stories, which were very 
personal and uniformly awful, in a 
public setting and the media, (are) 
brave people and my heart goes out 
to them and I hope that they can 
recover and heal from what sounds 
like the worst experience I could 

JORDYN BAKER & 
AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporters

See SCHLISSEL, Page 3

