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Friday, February 2, 2018 — 3
“Going forward, the sessions
will be similar inasmuch as
there will be a lot of large group
instruction,” Lazarus said. “But
we will work more on providing
tools to deal with inequity
and
they
will
move
from
philosophical to more practical
discussions.”
Washtenaw
County
Commissioner Felicia Brabec
said this inequity is not a new
issue for the community and is
something she has been working
on personally since the county’s
equity summit in 2015.
“What we are doing now
is the culmination of years of
work of a core group of us really
working on bringing it to our
region in a way that is accessible
for
folks
and
gets
people
excited and wanting to address
inequities and move forward
on these things,” Brabec said.
“Sometimes that takes a while,
but here we are.”
Many
officials
agreed
inequity has been an issue in
Ann Arbor and Washtenaw
County for quite some time.
Councilmember
Chuck
Warpehoski, D-Ward 5, said
there was a time when housing
policy in Ann Arbor allowed
deeds that restricted ownership
of the property to Caucasians.
While city policies today may
seem race-neutral, Warpehoski
said there are still policies that
drive inequity, one of which was
a city mobile “A2 Fix It” app
for reporting issues to the City
Council.
“These type of policies, while
they do not appear inequitable,
cause a racial and digital divide.
Some people have less access,”
Warpehoski said. “These things
need to be equally accessible for
all people.”
Amid discussion of health and
educational inequities, Lazarus
touched on current racial issues
and public distrust of the Ann
Arbor Police Department and
the council’s consideration of
developing a police review board
without
investigative
power.
In response to the community
criticism of the process, Lazarus
said the police department had
already gone through inherent
bias training.
“They (the initiative and the
review board) are definitely
related,” Lazarus said. “I think
part of the goal of the review
of
the
police
department
community
engagement
practice is to identify the areas
where the police department
can
communicate
more
effectively, build trust with
the community and ensure
that the way that we police the
community is in large part the
way the community wants to
be policed which revolves on
breaking down barriers and
better
educational
practices.
Which is similar to what we are
doing with the initiative.”
Warpehoski also argued the
idea of a police review board
is an ideal that aligns with the
initiative’s goals.
“While the design of the
police
review
board
and
whether it will have police
members is not established and
is still an open question, having
structures both internally and
externally helps solidify our
commitment to the people,”
Warpehoski. “I want all our
boards considering equity.”
Lazarus,
Brabec
and
Warpehoski
all
agreed
on
several
major
issues
the
initiative must address: Health,
education and housing. Brabec
said during the session Monday
she was asked what success for
the initiative would look like.
“I
came
up
with
these
four things right off the top
of
my
head,”
Brabec
said.
“Diminishing
or
no
health
disparities,
integrated
neighborhoods, schools with
access to the same resources
and developed transportation.”
While the initiative is still
in its early educational phases,
officials say they hope to begin
making real changes in city
and county policy soon. The
initiative,
Warpehoski
said,
is really about the city finally
following through on its core
principles.
“We talk a lot about a lot
of things in this community,
but for me success means we
actually roll things out that
address the inequities that are
very real,” Warpehoski said. “I
would really like this to not be
a once and done type of thing.
I want this to be an ongoing,
consistent part of how the city
and the county does business. So
that we are always challenging
ourselves to do better when
it comes to equity and we are
consistently year in and year out
finding ways to address these
inequities.”
she said.
In response to the initial
guide, Public Policy junior
Lauren Schandevel organized
her own guide titled “Being
Not-Rich
at
UM”
that
is
specifically tailored to lower-
income
students,
as
the
original
guide
was
geared
vaguely toward “students from
all backgrounds.” She said
this new document would be
beneficial for those who found
themselves underrepresented
in the original.
“I would have liked to see
more stuff about ways to make
money on campus because I
feel like a lot of lower income
students rely on a steady
income and scholarships and
grants and work-study and
a job, and I felt like that was
missing in the guide,” she said.
“This is a document in
which we can be honest about
the
barriers
lower
income
and first-gen students face on
this campus,” the guide reads.
“This guide is for anyone who
has ever felt marginalized
on
campus
—
particularly
students who are economically
disadvantaged, and especially
low-income students of color,
whose racial oppression is
often compounded by their
SES.”
St. Onge, one of over 70
students with editing access
on the newer guide, voiced her
appreciation for the over 10
sections and 35 pages worth
of material. These sections
include general categories such
as housing and employment,
as well as specific categories
that include places to look for
scholarships,
study
abroad
opportunities, where to shop
for reasonably priced groceries
and other necessities.
“If we’re going to have a
section that’s like upper-class
‘how to handle your allowance’
kind of budgeting that isn’t
a hugely important part of
the guide, we really need any
guide on affordability to start
with and focus on resources
that
actually
help
people
afford to be here,” St. Onge
said.
“Understanding
how
your financial aid package
works, how you can use it to
your benefit, what kind of
scholarships and employment
opportunities
are
available
to you, which jobs work well
with student schedules and
how you can compete in this
really intense atmosphere that
expects you to complete all
of these incredibly expensive
internships and study abroad
programs.”
At
the
CSG
meeting
Tuesday night, Vice President
Nadine Jawad, a Ford senior,
addressed
the
controversy
surrounding the original guide
and committed to continuing
to work on the project as a
whole.
“I want to hold myself
accountable
for
publishing
a guide that has made some
students
feel
marginalized
or feel that it has excluded
a demographic of students
who think this guide was not
made for them,” she said. “I
do believe that all mistakes
come with positives and I have
met with many people who
disagreed with the guide, and
because of that we have a clear
path on how to improve.”
Jawad has been actively
contributing to Schandevel’s
guide
and
made
plans
to
convene
with
student
representatives
to
continue
workshopping
ideas.
This
revised approach pools voices
from
students
who
have
personally used resources cited
in the new guide while adding
the extensive research found
by CSG in its development of
the first copy.
“I believe that this guide can
be something that represents
many different backgrounds
and I appreciate the dedication
people have made to addressing
some of the issues with the
guide,” Jawad said. “As we
work to get another version on
the table, I hope more people
will attend our town halls and
conversations
around
these
issues with the visibility of the
guide now. I would love to see
more people engaging in the
work we do all years so we can
hear feedback and continue to
improve.”
According to LSA freshman
Juan Orozco, his transition
into the University as a HAIL
Scholar
eliminated
many
potential stressors and made
the
university
experience
much more achievable, but he
still faces day-to-day struggles
of living in Ann Arbor.
“I’m a low-income student
(and)
coming
into
the
University, I had to rely a lot
on scholarships and funds to
actually get here – otherwise
I wouldn’t be able to attend,
my family wouldn’t be able to
handle the debt,” he said.
He referenced the Go Blue
Guarantee,
which
promises
full tuition to any in-state
student
with
a
familial
income of $65,000 or less, as
a milestone for students in a
similar situation as him, both in
ideology and implementation.
He reaffirmed steady progress
from the student body and
its
student
government
is
essential to continuing to make
the University a welcoming
campus and a life-changing
opportunity for all students to
learn and flourish.
“I just feel education should
be equitable for everyone, and
being able to budget for low-
income students to come into
U of M and to be able to get an
education here, and transfer
that to a degree, and later a
job, to provide for themselves
later on, I think that’s the most
important thing,” he said.
people see as Engler’s weak
stance on sexual assault. A
report from Bridge Magazine,
published by The Center for
Michigan ––a thinktank that
analyzes
and
informs
the
public
on
Michigan
policy
issues –– recounted Engler’s
role in a 1990s sexual assault
case of female prison inmates
in which he prohibited state
prison officials from speaking
to lawyers and United Nations
investigators to discover the
scope of the women’s claims.
In 2009, the stated settled the
lawsuit for $100 million on
behalf of 500 women assaulted
by prison guards.
In anticipation of Engler’s
appointment
Tuesday,
MSU
professor Rob DeLuca issued
a statement on behalf of the
faculty-comprised
MSU
Steering
Committee,
calling
for a month- to semester-
long process to appoint a new
MSU president and strongly
suggesting it be a woman with
extensive academic experience.
He
claimed
the
Board
of
Trustees would be ignoring the
wishes of the MSU community
by appointing someone with
no
academic
leadership
experience.
“We
expressed
in
no
uncertain terms that appointing
a former Governor with no
academic leadership experience
as interim president would not
be the best way to heal the
wounds
of
our
community
in this politically polarized
climate,” the statement read.
“The Board of Trustees seems
to have chosen to ignore major
stakeholders
of
the
MSU
community in their rush to
appoint an interim president.”
In light of the sentencing of
Nassar, Engler assured members
of the community he plans to
improve MSU communication
and transparency.
“I will move forward as if
my own daughters were on this
campus and will treat every
student as I would my own
daughters,” Engler said.
Dan Martel, president of
MSU’s
College
Democrats,
wrote a letter to the Board
of Trustees on behalf of the
chapter calling for a sit-in until
they are heard.
“The appointment of former
Gov. John Engler shows a
clear dismissal of the concerns
and desires of the student
body and alumni,” the letter
read.
“Instead
of
instating
a clear, transparent process
for determining the interim
president, the trustees instead
chose
to
appoint
Engler
through
over-the-weekend
backroom deals. Instead of
appointing a uniting figure
ready to repair campus and take
on the complex issue of sexual
assault, the board instead chose
to appoint a partisan figure that
would only further divide the
MSU community.”
“I think it’s the ability to
critically analyze what they
see in the sports industry,
what they see from the outside
as an insider, and allows them
to see beyond the messaging
… and think about what the
actual plan was, what was the
problem, what the goal in the
product (was),” Cho said. “The
hope is that they can think
at a level that would provide
value to an actual company,
see if they can get to that level
of thought and analysis that
would equal or add value to the
actual people in the industry.”
While
not
a
practicing
lawyer, Cho is a member of
the State Bar of California
and said his legal background
helps him in his position at the
University.
“It has helped me more and
more as my career has gone
on, particularly in my last
role at adidas, specifically in
Basketball Sports Marketing.
Our global partnership with
the NBA involved a number
of larger partnership legal
agreements
and
smaller
agreements,” Cho said. “It
has always helped that I can
approach those and review
them and finalize them with
our actual legal team. So not
practicing law but being able to
bring the business context with
an agreement to a discussion
with our legal team as we are
finalizing amendments.”
Cho credits his mentors at
and beyond the University for
providing him with crucial
knowledge and experience in
his industry.
“I’ve
been
fortunate
to
work with a number of terrific
mentors
at
both
brands
who have shared all of their
previous experience with me
and allowed me to span a larger
time frame than my actual time
in the industry,” Cho said. “So
I’ve had the fortunate ability
to work with a number of
20-plus year veterans at Nike
and adidas that have shared a
lot of their experiences with
me in addition to the direct
first hand experiences that
I’ve had and it’s a combination
of those two that have allowed
me to get this far.”
Cho’s
dedication
to
the
University and his newfound
love of teaching inspires him
to provide students the same
wisdom he received as he
worked in the sports industry.
“I love it,” Cho said. “I
absolutely love teaching. It’s
something I think I’ve been
subconsciously preparing for
my entire time in the sports
industry that I have only
consciously started to think
about and now plan for but
it’s incredibly rewarding. For
me, it’s giving back to the
students that same experience
and wisdom that my previous
mentors and colleagues gave to
me as I was going through the
industry. I have no idea if I’ll
teach another class but even
this one opportunity is more
than I ever hoped or expected
for.”
Kelli
Donahue,
associate
program
chair
and
senior
lecturer
at
the
Sport
Management Program, first
met with Cho to discuss the
possibility of a lecture.
“It’s
very
exciting
to
have
David
teaching
for
us this semester in Sport
Management,” Donahue wrote
in an email interview. “David’s
career working on NBA global
partnerships and marketing
for adidas is one that many of
our students hope to emulate,
and for them to learn from
David first hand is immensely
valuable.”
Kinesiology senior Cameron
Dotson
said
in
an
email
interview he has enjoyed being
in Cho’s course this semester.
Dotson was a former intern at
Under Armour where he met
one of Cho’s early mentors. He
said he values Cho’s previous
experience and the lessons he
teaches in his course.
“I think the best thing
I have learned from David
is the value of being a good
person and just looking to do
the right thing when you can.
Through our conversations,
as well as personal examples
that he’s spoken on in lecture,
it seems as though he really
prioritizes ethical work, and
being altruistic in a fast-paced,
exciting
industry,”
Dotson
wrote. “I think I speak for all
of my classmates when I say
that I hope we stay in touch in
the future!”
violence has been revised as
well to emphasize that the
University believes emotional
abuse
is
a
reoccurring
behavior and not an isolated
incident.
In an effort to improve the
sanctioning
process,
cases
that used to be heard by a
voluntary board of OIE and
OSCR-trained faculty, staff
and student representatives
will
now
be
heard
by
professional OSCR staff. This
approach
will
reportedly
ensure
professionals
with
significant training will be
responsible for determining
proper sanctions.
Rackham student Kamaria
Porter, who currently serves
on the sanctioning board,
wrote in an email she found
the volunteer board to be an
unsustainable process due to
competing schedules and the
large time commitment of
case review sessions.
“Being
on
the
board
is
a
huge,
unpaid
time
commitment,”
Porter
wrote. “It includes reading
sometimes hundreds of pages,
deliberating for hours, and
follow up emails. In addition,
we had an 8 hour training.
Sometimes things come up
and board members can’t be
available. That model doesn’t
seem sustainable in terms of
securing volunteers who are
already deeply involved in a
professional job, serving as
faculty, or pursuing a degree
full time.
Finally,
the
option
of
mediation
between
an
accuser and the respondent is
now available in cases of non-
penetrative sexual assault.
GUIDE
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ENGLER
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ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Lilliana Mason, professor at the University of Maryland, College Park speaks about politics becoming our identity, which she discusses in her book
“Uncivil Agreement,” in Haven Hall Thursday.
UNCIVIL AGRE EME NT
FLYING
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EQUITY
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MISCONDUCT
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