L
ast week, the Latinx Alliance for Community Action, Support
and Advocacy sent a list of demands to administrators
detailing where the University of Michigan needs to increase
their support for the Latinx community. As the national political
climate becomes more hostile toward Latinx communities and
incidents of hostility toward the Latinx community on campus
continue, the University needs to live up to their values of diversity
and inclusion to ensure that Latinx students and faculty are
supported on campus. The Michigan Daily Editorial Board stands
in solidarity with La Casa as they seek action on these demands,
and calls on the administration to listen to them. Recognizing and
acting on the barriers Latinx students and faculty face will not only
help the Latinx community, but also have effects that reverberate
throughout the campus when it comes to diversity.
W
here were you when
you found out Kylie
Jenner had her baby?
I was on a bus full of middle
schoolers, on our way back
from a winter retreat I led.
For a moment, I lost sight of
any responsibility I had to be a
mature, positive role model and
squealed, “Guys! Kylie Jenner
had her baby!” Cue the madness.
For the uninitiated, Kylie
Jenner’s original claim to fame
was being the youngest star of
the reality TV show, “Keeping
Up With The Kardashians,”
which premiered when she was
only 9 years old. Jenner is the
daughter of Kris Jenner and
Olympian Caitlyn Jenner and
half-sister of Kim Kardashian
West. At 20 years old, Jenner
is known for her lip injections,
rapper boyfriends and alarming
rate at which she posts pictures
of herself on social media. In
September, rumors began to
circulate that she was pregnant
— a theory that Jenner herself
did not confirm until Feb. 4, four
days after the baby was born.
The socially accepted view
of Jenner is that she is a vapid,
tasteless reality star without
any real talent to account for her
millions of teen superfans. When
I ask someone whether he or she
has heard about Jenner’s baby,
the most common response is,
“Why do you even care?”
To which I respond: “Why
don’t you?”
The key to success in our
world right now is appealing
to
millennials.
Companies
are
drastically
changing
their office culture to recruit
millennial employees. Chains
like Applebees and TGI Fridays
are suffering thanks to their
inability to attract millennial
customers. During her 2016
presidential campaign, Hillary
Clinton infamously tried to win
over millennial voters by saying,
“I’m trying to figure out how we
get them to have Pokemon Go to
the polls.”
Further, in a world that is
increasingly dominated by social
media, an inability to advertise
effectively
on
social
media
platforms is a serious liability for
any business or political figure.
The 2008 presidential election
is often called the Facebook
election, as analysts cite Barack
Obama’s strong social media
presence as an asset over his
opponents.
Seemingly
every
brand, nonprofit, political figure
and social movement is spending
a huge portion of time and
resources to attract views on its
social media profile.
And, yet, the most-liked
photo on Instagram isn’t any
of those things. The most-
liked photo on Instagram is the
photo in which Kylie Jenner
announces that her daughter is
named Stormi.
That photo has over a million
likes. For someone with no
talent, clearly, Jenner is doing
something right.
Attracting
Instagram
likes
isn’t
Jenner’s
only
accomplishment. In 2015, she
created a cosmetics startup,
Kylie Cosmetics, which earned
her $8.7 million in its first year
alone. Jenner serves as founder
and CEO of Kylie Cosmetics,
as well as chief marketing
officer and chief creative officer
(Her mother, Kris Jenner, is
the company’s chief financial
officer).
Kylie
Cosmetics
is
predicted to take in $1 billion in
lifetime sales by 2022.
In addition, Jenner earns
money from her endorsement
deals with PacSun and Puma. She
is estimated to earn $200,000
per post on Instagram, and her
Snapchat was the most-viewed
account of 2016. In 2017, at age
19, Jenner was listed on Forbes
30 Under 30 for her position
as founder of Kylie Cosmetics.
She also became the youngest
celebrity on Forbes 100, having
earned $41 million that year.
I can think of plenty of
people who don’t have any talent
and also aren’t Forbes 30 Under
30 entrepreneurs.
Though
Jenner’s
position
as the sister of a reality TV
star certainly didn’t hurt her
business, that alone doesn’t
account for her astronomical
success. There are countless
celebrities on television, many of
whom reach way more viewers
than Jenner. In fact, KUWTK
is only the 386th most popular
show on television. If the stars
of those shows have way more
viewers, why aren’t they able to
build the fanbase that Jenner has
built? Jenner, more than anyone
else in the world, has proven
to have the business savvy to
leverage her position as the sister
of a reality TV star to become
one of the most successful
businesswomen in the world.
In fact, even though all of the
Kardashian and Jenner sisters
were effectively given the same
platform and celebrity status,
only the youngest Jenner figured
out how to monetize it to the
extent of which she did. Jenner
is now worth more than all of her
sisters combined. (Her sisters, in
case you’ve forgotten, include
Kim Kardashian West and model
Kendall Jenner.)
Jenner may appear to lack
any sort of substance or depth,
but
underneath
the
heavy
makeup and Instagram filters,
every selfie is a researched,
calculated
business
decision.
She has the millennial consumer
segment under lock and key. So
if you didn’t care that Jenner
had a baby, perhaps you should
reevaluate. Or at least spend
some time analyzing why this
20-year-old sister of a reality
TV star could draw in over a
million likes on her baby name
announcement, but brands like
Chili’s, which has an entire
marketing
department
that
likely
focuses
on
attracting
millennials, can’t even draw in
500k followers on Twitter.
“I really do feel like people
don’t take me seriously as a
businesswoman because of my
age and my reputation,” Jenner
said on her TV show “Life of
Kylie”, which premiered after
the massive success of her
cosmetics brand. “But I feel like
they’re starting to. I like to prove
people wrong.”
Politicians and business people
alike should be asking themselves
this $41 million question: What can
I learn from Kylie Jenner?
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, February 14, 2018
DAYTON HARE
Managing Editor
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
ALEXA ST. JOHN
Editor in Chief
ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY AND
ASHLEY ZHANG
Editorial Page Editors
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Ali Safawi
Kevin Sweitzer
Tara Jayaram
Ashley Zhang
The
recent
campus
climate survey conducted by
the Office of Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion found Latinx
students are 132 percent more
likely to feel discrimination than
their white peers. Along with
this feeling, the proportion of
Latinx students at the University
is rising: 7.33 percent of the 2017
freshman class identified as
Hispanic while 6.67 percent of
the student body as a whole was
comprised of Hispanic students.
Yet,
the
University
has
not
kept
pace
with
supporting Latinx students.
Specifically, La Casa takes
issue with the few Latinx
faculty members hired at
the University in addition
to the lack of Latinx studies
faculty at the University and
the
subsequent
increased
workload
that
falls
on
them as they must support
students and engage in their
own scholarship. The lack of
community-focused
faculty
members in a time where
the Latinx community is
increasingly
important
to
our nation’s political rhetoric
sends a message that the
community is of little interest
to the University, even as it
tries to prioritize diversity,
equity and inclusion. The
additional steps demanded,
including the creation of
a
presidential
advisory
committee,
are
relatively
simple, tangible actions that
can be taken to demonstrate
the importance of the Latinx
community at the University
and give them space for
dialogue and representation.
The University also has a
commitment to its students
to make sure they feel safe
and
supported
in
their
academic community. One of
the major advertising points
of
the
University
is
the
diverse campus atmosphere.
However, the school needs
to realize there are unique
communities
beneath
the
umbrella
term
“diverse,”
each with their own wants
and needs. With increased
animosity
towards
Latinx
communities
around
the
nation, it becomes even more
necessary for the University
to create spaces of safety
where students and faculty
alike can learn about the
barriers that Latinx students
face here at the school and
work with the University to
take concrete action to break
them down.
As
the
nation
pushes
forward
with
the
debate
over the Latinx community,
the
University
needs
to
support its own population
and take substantial action
in championing their Latinx
students and staff. The first
steps the University should
take are enacting the demands
of La Casa and continuing to
listen to the group, should
more issues arise.
Support La Casa’s demands
L
ast week, Nancy Pelosi
set a record. Speaking on
the floor of the House of
Representatives, she stretched her
so-called “magic minute” privilege
as Minority Leader into an eight-
hour defense of the DREAMers.
This came in response to Senate
Democrats agreeing to a budget
deal that would have left millions
of
undocumented
immigrants
without protection. She shattered a
record that was set in 1909, telling
DREAMers’ stories and taking a
stand for one of the causes that
progressives
have
consistently
rallied around in the Trump era.
What’s more, she did this in four-
inch heels. So where is Nancy
Pelosi’s “yass queen” moment?
On paper, she should be the
toast of progressives and liberal
Democrats
everywhere.
Pelosi
was the first and only woman to
serve as Speaker of the House,
helped found the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, opposed the
Iraq War, has been a strong ally
to the LGBT community since
the 90’s, and holds a strong pro-
choice record. She pushed through,
against all odds, the Lily Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act and Obamacare. As
Speaker, she once removed a statue
of Robert E. Lee from the Capitol
and replaced it with Rosa Parks.
In 2017, she raised $50 million for
Democratic candidates to take
back the House next November.
So why is she so unpopular, even
among Democrats? Candidates
routinely dodge questions about
whether or not they would vote
for her to remain as leader. Several
younger Democrats blamed her
for her role in Jon Ossoff’s loss in
the Georgia 6th special election
last year. She has shockingly low
approval ratings (only 29 percent
view
her
favorably,
while
a
whopping 50 percent disapprove)
and is the subject of substantial
derision in her own party.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
made waves last summer when she
repeated the phrase “reclaiming
my time” over and over again
during a hearing for now Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The
Internet celebrated her and she
was dubbed by many “Auntie
Maxine.” Where is this treatment
for Pelosi? Granted, she did receive
some applause from her fellow
House Democrats when her speech
concluded and a positive write-
up in The Washington Post, but
whatever good will Pelosi earned
from this will be temporary at best.
There are, of course, probably
dozens of explanations for this
inconsistency. There is always
inherent
hostility
towards
members of party leadership and
authority figures — especially
those who have held their posts
for as long as Pelosi has. She gave
a tone-deaf answer last November,
calling for due process for John
Conyers after sexual harassment
charges were leveled against him
(though she quickly turned around
and called for his resignation). She
is one of the wealthiest members
of Congress. She was a driving
force behind Hillary Clinton’s
2016 campaign. Her unpopularity,
though, may be attributed to,
more than anything else, a streak
of latent, subtle sexism that is
festering in the Democratic Party
in 2018.
Think about some of the most
popular figures right now in the
party. Bernie Sanders, Barack
Obama and Joe Biden — all men.
Nancy Pelosi is viewed to be out of
touch and shrill. No one can seem to
stop taking hits at Hillary Clinton,
despite the fact that it has been a
full 15 months since the election.
People knock Elizabeth Warren
for her claims of Native American
ancestry and Kamala Harris for
her inexperience.
These
attacks
are
usually
carried out under the guise of some
sort of woke, progressive purity.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is still
way out of step with the average
Democrat on gun control. Barack
Obama expanded the U.S. drone
program beyond what any liberal
would have thought appropriate.
Joe Biden plagiarized speeches.
Men, it seems, are afforded mistakes
and forgiven. Once again, women
are being held to an unrealistic
standard, just a few ticks above their
male counterparts. In this instance,
though, it is being done by the party
that claims to advocate for and
empower women.
Given the current state of the
GOP as a party that is inherently
hostile towards women, Democrats
should be celebrating its female
leadership, rather than subjecting
it to the same nonsense that they
experience on the other side of the
aisle. One recent ranking of the
top fifteen potential democratic
andidates for 2020 included only
four women total, with just one of
those in the top five contenders (in
fourth). The relatively unknown
Sen. Chris Murphy (CT) was
ranked higher than Elizabeth
Warren and California Governor
Jerry Brown (who would be 82
on Election Day) was listed above
two qualified, popular, sitting
senators in Kamala Harris and
Kirsten Gillibrand.
Of course, it is possible that
these preferences are entirely
incidental; that, somehow, the
women in leadership roles in the
Democratic Party are out of touch
and inexperienced compared to
their male counterparts. Nancy
Pelosi may be a beltway insider
who no longer has a place in
the party. Male candidates may
simply be better suited to lead the
party against Trump in 2020.
To
accept
all
of
these
possibilities, though, takes quite
a bit of mental gymnastics and
ignores the much more likely
common denominator. In fact,
speaking as a progressive, I accept
exactly zero of those explanations.
Democrats
need
to
very
seriously reflect on how they
respond to women who take on
leadership roles within the party.
Is it possible that sexism is still
alive and well, perhaps even on the
rise? If not, great—but there is still
a lot to explain to Nancy Pelosi and
the host of qualified Democratic
women with their eye on 2020.
Latent sexism in the Democratic Party
BRETT GRAHAM | COLUMN
Businesses should learn from Kylie Jenner
HANNAH HARSHE | COLUMN
Hannah Harshe can be reached at
hharshe@umich.edu.
Brett Graham can be reached at
btgraham@umich.edu.
JOE IOVINO | JOE CAN BE REACHED AT JIOVINO@UMICH.EDU
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FROM THE DAILY