michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, March 9, 2018

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

The University of Michigan 

has pledged not to disclose 
immigration 
status 
of 
its 

students. 
However, 
once 

undocumented students at the 
University graduate, the future 
is hazy. This is especially true 
with those receiving Deferred 
Action for Childhood Arrivals, 
DACA, which can be renewed 
every two years. One of DACA’s 
many benefits is its authorization 
of work permits, but with the 
uncertainty surrounding DACA 
in the government, the ability to 
legally work after graduation is 
no longer guaranteed.

This is something Engineering 

senior 
Javier 
Contreras 
is 

thinking about as he approaches 
graduation.

“This constant state of limbo 

and uncertainty is taking a great 
toll on a lot of my classmates and 
I,” Contreras said. “Just because 
we have enough to be stressed 

with. Myself, graduating this 
April, if I can’t legally work in the 
U.S., there goes my engineering 
degree. It is just a lot to think 
about.”

When these students’ DACA 

statuses expire, so does the 
eligibility for a work permit that 
comes with it, and the possibility 
of pursuing a salaried career in 
the country in which they got 
their degree disappears. DACA 
recipients can find a part-time 
job right before their DACA 
status expires, but once it does, 
they have to find a way to be paid 
under the table. Public Policy 
junior Yvonne Navarrete has 
peers currently navigating this 
struggle.

“I have friends who are 

undocumented 
and 
they’re 

seniors, ready to go into the 
workforce 
but 
their 
DACA 

expires 
in 
the 
summer,” 

Navarette said. “So they can 
only work for two months and 
then they don’t have work 
authorization. So then they 
would have to find a job that 
pays in cash. But what kind of 

“There goes 
my degree”: 
DACA and 
graduation

ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

Amid increasing uncertainty with ICE, 
students consider extending education

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE & 

SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporters

Diversity programs see increased effectiveness when partnered with student organizations

In line with Diversity, Equity 

and Inclusion plan’s overarching 
strategy to “recruit, retain and 
develop a diverse community,” 
the University of Michigan is 
increasing efforts to reach into 
the K-12 distribution across the 
state and attract a wider variety 
of applicants to the University. 
However, the task of letting 
potential applicants know about 

the University’s efforts requires 
more than just administrative 
initiatives; student organizations 
are also working to connect lower-
socioeconomic schools to the 
University and make a University 
of Michigan degree attainable.

CEO and DEI Partnership
Cited in the DEI plan as a 

K-12-focused body, the Center for 
Educational Outreach was given 
the responsibility of serving as 
the campus-wide K-12 Outreach 
Hub by extending the presence 
of the University across the 
state, 
providing 
training 
for 

students and faculty working 
with community partners and 
improving the University’s overall 
capacity. As the DEI plan enters its 
second year of implementation on 
campus, CEO hopes to continue 
improving upon their relatively 
new initiatives.

William 
Collins, 
executive 

director of the CEO, outlined the 
history of the center, which was 
established in 2008 as a result 
of former University President 
Mary Sue Coleman’s efforts to 
create a more diverse community 
on campus. Collins highlighted 

some of the CEO’s main goals: 
Familiarizing all parts of the state 
with the University, encouraging 
collaboration between outreach 
groups 
on 
campus 
and 

providing services for these K-12 
communities.

“Its purpose was to, first of 

all, expand the footprint of the 
University of Michigan around 
the state and more parts of the 
state would become familiar with 
the University and what we do,” 
Collins said. “To synergize efforts 
on campus that try to get different 

AMARA SHAIKH 
& JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporters

See DEI, Page 2

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Vol. CXXVII, No. 88
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Double-check: DEI initiatives for 
K-12 schools assisted by students

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, an 

organizer and assistant professor 
of African American Studies at 
Princeton University, has never 
shied away from lambasting 
President 
Donald 
Trump 
in 

public speeches. After delivering 
the commencement address at 
Hampshire College last year, 
however, she received dozens 
of death threats, forcing her to 
cancel other speeches.

But she did not stay away from 

speeches for long. On Thursday 
evening, 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan’s Sociology Department 
hosted Taylor to discuss her recent 
book and her research on race and 
class in the Trump era to a crowd 
of about 150 people. Taylor was 
introduced as one of the hundreds 
of people who have recently 
refused to be silenced, from the 
#BlackLivesMatter movement to 
the #MeToo movement.

Taylor’s 
book, 
“From 

#BlackLivesMatter 
to 
Black 

Liberation,” examines the social 
movements that have stemmed 
in response to police brutality in 
the United States, and received 
the Lannan Foundation Cultural 
Freedom Award for an Especially 
Notable Book in 2016. 

Taylor 
said 
she 
considers 

herself more of an organizer 
than an academic, and admitted 
it took her publisher several tries 
to persuade her to write this book. 
Since its publication, however, the 
book has reached and impacted 

many students, including those in 
attendance. 

Having been an organizer for 

several years herself, Social Work 
student Kristina Agbebiyi said she 
sees Taylor as a role model.

“Seeing how she is able to 

balance organizing and academia 
really is inspiring to me,” Agbebiyi 
said.

Taylor 
began 
her 
talk 

comparing headlines today with 
those of ten years ago, starting with 
President Obama’s inauguration. 
 

She recalled headlines claiming 
the U.S. was entering a post-racial 

society –– “Racism No Longer 
Exists in America,” for example 
–– and noted the stark contrast to 
society and headlines today, with 
numerous outbreaks of violence 
and 
racism 
since 
Trump’s 

inauguration.

Taylor 
argued 
Trump’s 

controversial comments are not 
simply a slip of the tongue, but are 
rather calculated steps to appeal 
to his followers. Citing a tweet 
in which David Duke, a former 
grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, 
thanked Trump for his sympathy 
toward 
white 
supremacists 

marching 
in 
Charlottesville, 

Va., Taylor said Trump himself 
embraced white supremacy.

“The racist right celebrated 

their mouthpiece in the White 
House,” she said.

She 
also 
examined 
the 

evolution of racism in U.S. politics, 
and how it has transitioned from 
explicit racial slurs to a more 
subtle attack, through implicit 
comments and unjust economic 
policies. 

“With each racist comment, 

the Republican party meets it 

The University of Michigan’s 

Lecturers’ Employee Organization 
held a community forum at its 
offices 
Thursday 
night 
with 

about 27 student and tenure-track 
allies and community activists to 
discuss its bargaining negotiations 
with the University.

LEO, the union of non-tenure 

track lecturers for all three U-M 
campuses, has been bargaining 
with the University since October 
for 
higher 
wages, 
improved 

benefits 
and 
job 
security. 

Currently, the minimum salary 
for a Lecturer I is $34,500 for the 
Ann Arbor campus, $28,300 in 
Dearborn and $27,300 in Flint.

LEO President, Ian Robinson, 

a sociology lecturer, began by 
explaining the gravity of the 
situation during the bargaining 
process.

“The most basic thing to say 

about our platform is that it’s not 
business as usual,” Robinson said. 
“What we’re really saying this 
time around is we need to change 
from a mode where basically 
our pay has been determined, 
as far as the administration is 

See BARGAINING, Page 3

LEO hosts 
community 
dialogue on 
bargaining

ACADEMICS

According to LEO staff, 
members will go on strike 
if demands aren’t fulfilled

RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Daily Staff Reporter

#BlackLivesMatter to Black liberation: 
Author-activist talks American racism

Unfazed by death threats, Princeton professor delivers lecture at Michigan Union

ABBY TAKAS

Daily Staff Reporter

See ACTIVISM, Page 3

About 
60 
Ann 
Arbor 

residents convened Thursday 
evening at the Ann Arbor 
District Library to discuss 
civic engagement and hear 
from a panel of local leaders 
in a community forum focused 
on the state of civic life in 
Washtenaw County.

Mary Morgan, founder of 

the CivCity Initiative, a local 
organization 
intending 
to 

increase civic participation, 
moderated 
a 
panel 
about 

the 
importance 
of 
civic 

engagement 
and 
ways 
to 

increase 
involvement 
from 

Washtenaw residents.

Several residents expressed 

concerns about the low level 
of 
participation 
from 
Ann 

Arbor citizens in local politics. 
Many residents feel they have 
little power and their opinions 
wouldn’t be heard. Patrick 
Campion, the program director 
for 
WEMU 
broadcasting 

service and one of the panelists 
at the forum, said there were 
ways of engaging in civic life 
people often didn’t consider.

See DUTY, Page 3

See DACA, Page 3

Group of 
city leaders 
addresses 
civic duty 

ANN ARBOR

Community members 
discuss concerns over 
obstacles to participation

SHIKHA PATEL

For the Daily

CHUN SO/Daily

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, discusses race 
and class in the Trump era at the Union Thursday.

