Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4— Friday, March 9, 2018
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
Ashley Zhang
Demand an end to gun violence
A generational look at feminism
Gun violence is happening
right in front of us — to our
friends
and
families
across
the nation — at a rate that is
unmatched within the developed
world. Now, it is in the hands of
private citizens to change the
culture of guns for our country.
As we have seen time and time
again, Congress alone cannot be
trusted to change gun laws in
any significant way. Should the
national and political cultures
surrounding guns shift, Congress
will be more likely to enact gun
reform laws that will hold the
possibility of tangible change.
These cultural shifts begins with
us.
The
struggle
to
change
culture and policy has gained
new life since the Parkland
shooting. Currently, Parkland
student activism has led to
speeches, candlelight vigils and
preparation drills about their
experiences and the grieving
process. Their conversation has
drawn the attention of major
national news sources like CNN,
NBC’s “Meet the Press” and
The New York Times. Using
these platforms, the students
are calling into question where
our country’s priorities lie: Do
we care more about protecting
our guns or protecting the safety
of our young people? Partially
because of their efforts, major
retailers have united to distance
themselves from the NRA and
institute higher age requirements
for purchasing guns. For instance,
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Walmart,
Kroger Co. and L.L.Bean have
all responded to the students’
activism by publicly stating they
will no longer sell firearms or
ammunition to people under the
age of 21.
At this point, as the Stoneman
Douglas students have already
so powerfully shown, we need
to rely on ourselves and our
ability to take action, not just the
government, to institute moral
and tangible change. However,
if gun culture is changed, we
are hopeful that government at
both the state and federal level
will institute the much needed
reform that a significant number
of people, including many of the
Parkland survivors, support.
Some
might
find
it
challenging, if not impossible, to
reverse the culture of firearms
that is so heavily embraced in
this country. However, there
is precedence for widespread
cultural shifts in the United
States; the demise of smoking’s
popularity in the late 20th
century shows that large-scale
culture changes can occur.
We at The Daily also find
the extreme influence of the
NRA in the political sphere
another extensive barrier to
preventing
school
shootings
and gun violence. According to
The New York Times, senatorial
heavyweights such as Marco
Rubio, Rob Portman and Tom
Cotton have received more than
$3.3 million, $3 million and $1.9
million dollars from the NRA
since they began their political
careers. Even without the NRA’s
monetary
influence,
which
extends to many more elected
officials, the group’s impact is
still highly potent due to their
ability to mobilize their members
to vote for the candidates they
endorse. If you are as concerned
about the influence the NRA has
in our electoral politics as we are,
we encourage you to vote and to
make sure your peers do as well.
The surest way to change gun
policy is to remove the elected
officials from office who are so
intertwined with the NRA.
The
importance
of
changing
gun
laws
cannot
be overstated. Gun violence
has become normalized and
even desensitized because of
its prevalence, especially in a
generation that has grown up
seeing the frequency of these
shootings. This frequency and
subsequent media cycles and
political debate has become
all too familiar. But for us as
college students, inaction could
be a matter of life or death. We
have an obligation to ourselves,
our
communities
and
our
nation to change gun culture
as well as to replace the elected
officials enabling the NRA to
dictate public policy and hold
America hostage to its views.
We, at The Daily, encourage
our readers to take part in
the ongoing student activism
by contacting their elected
officials to demand reform and
to vote in the 2018 midterms
and beyond.
HANNAH HARSHE | COLUMN
“
We are going to be the kids
you read about in textbooks!”
This is the proclamation
of Emma Gonzalez, a senior
at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School and a survivor of the
Parkland, Fla. massacre. Within
four days of the tragic death of
her classmates, Gonzalez, along
with several classmates, organized
a campaign called Never Again
MSD and a nationwide protest
called March For Our Lives. Their
petition, which calls for stricter
background checks for gun buyers,
has almost 150,000 signatures.
If
America
has
learned
anything in 2018, it is to never
underestimate
the
power
of
Generation Z.
I kept this in mind when
choosing whom I wanted to feature
in my column on International
Women’s Day. The holiday was
adopted by the United Nations
in 1975, and it only takes a quick
Google search to learn about it
from a public figure like Emma
Watson or Hillary Clinton. But, as
is the case with too many pertinent
issues, we don’t often hear from
young people on this topic. In the
spirit of reversing this habit, I had
the privilege of speaking with two
intelligent and powerful young
women.
Brianna Harshe is a 12-year-
old student-athlete. She plays club
soccer, and spends most of her time
either training or doing homework.
She also happens to be my sister. I
was able to interview her via phone
on her way to soccer training on
Monday.
Harshe was unfamiliar with
International Women’s Day before
I mentioned it, but, based on the
name, she surmises, “It’s a day for
women and what they do for the
world because they didn’t get as
much respect in the past.”
She is quick to note the
discrepancies
when
it
comes
to gender representation in the
educational system: “We learn
about women mostly because
they’re women and not really
because of what they did. We
learn about men because of what
they did.” According to a study
by PLOS One, three out of four
scientists depicted in primary
school textbooks are men. A
UNESCO report released on
International Women’s Day in 2016
notes that gender bias is persistent
in
textbooks
worldwide,
and
this sabotages “girls’ motivation,
participation and achievement in
school.”
Harshe says that her role
model is Carli Lloyd, because, “She
was one of the first female soccer
players to get respect.” Lloyd was
an American soccer player, a two-
time Olympic gold medalist, a FIFA
Women’s World Cup champion and
the FIFA Women’s Player of the
Year in 2015 and 2016. She is also a
fantastic public figure to admire on
International Women’s Day.
In 2016, Lloyd, along with four
teammates on the US Women’s
National Team, filed a wage
discrimination complaint against
U.S. Soccer Federation. In her
op-ed for the New York Times, she
explained, “If I were a male soccer
player who won a World Cup for
the United States, my bonus would
be $390,000. Because I am a female
soccer player, the bonus I got for
our World Cup victory last summer
was $75,000.” Lloyd may be one of
the first female soccer players to
earn the respect that she has, and
yet she knows she has a long way to
go in order to gain the respect that
male soccer players have. Someday
Harshe may be a professional
soccer player and thanks to role
models like Lloyd, Harshe will
know that she is worthy of the same
salary as her male counterparts.
The other student I spoke with
is Riley Shaughnessy, who is 13
years old. In addition to running
cross-country
for
her
middle
school, Shaughnessy is a member of
the National Junior Honor Society.
I am a friend of her older sister, so
I had the privilege of interviewing
her over the phone after she got out
of school on Monday.
Shaughnessy
has
also
noted the problem of gender
representation in school, and has
taken initiative to change it: “I try
to learn about (men and women)
equally, but other people don’t.
Other kids sometimes make guys
higher. I think there are a lot more
guys in history, but I don’t think
that’s very fair.”
In
just
10
short
years,
Shaughnessy
and
her
peers
will be entering the workforce.
Shaughnessy envisions that by the
time she enters the workforce, the
world will be much more gender
equitable. “I don’t think there will
be as many stay-at-home moms,”
she says. “And there will be more
stay-at-home dads.”
This is a complex, and likely
accurate, assertion. Stay-at-home
motherhood, in and of itself, is
in no way shameful, however,
mothers are often driven to stay
at home not because of their
personal choice, but because of
cultural norms and office policies
that deem men more worthy of the
workplace. Similarly, fathers often
feel as though staying at home
instead of pursuing a career is a
sign of weakness. A truly gender
equitable world would allow
mothers and fathers to determine
whether they want to stay at home
based on personal circumstance,
not based simply on gender.
Hannah Harshe can be reached at
hharshe@umich.edu.
I
n the University of Michigan’s
Angell
Hall
Auditorium
A,
the
mirthless
drone
of a college student not much
older than myself is discussing
bystander intervention. Or at least,
he’s describing it. He imbues the
lecture with so little care that the
other young men surrounding him
are just as disengaged, as though
he were talking about the most
inconsequential of problems.
For a council that has been
under scrutiny in recent months,
the Interfraternity Council has
visibly done little that actually
exhibits their commitment to
ending sexual assault within Greek
life.
Kinesiology senior Cass Bouse-
Eaton is ready to see this change.
Bouse-Eaton is one of the leaders
of the Panhellenic Peer Educator
program, originally created by
U-M alumni Alyssa Gorenberg
and Eileen Enright to educate
and prevent sexual misconduct
within the Greek community.
Now, with over 100 members
across all 17 sororities within the
Panhellenic Association, they are
deeply impacting with programs
such as the Panhel Speak Out,
where survivors from all councils
were invited to speak about their
experiences within the community.
Bouse-Eaton,
who
helped
organize the Speak Out alongside
creator Ally Cohen, an LSA senior,
is already beginning to see the
indelible mark PPE is making. She
spoke with me about her goals with
the Speak Out, describing how she
attended the annual Sexual Assault
and Prevention and Awareness
Center Speak Out in spring 2015
and was incredibly moved. Being
a recent survivor at that time, she
said that Speak Out made her feel
empowered, heard and cared for in
a way she hadn’t felt within a large
group setting on campus.
Furthermore,
she
believed
the experience of survivors in
the Greek life community could
differ from the general population,
and wanted to create a space
for both survivors to share their
experiences and allies to give their
support.
This is something she would
like to see expand to other councils
and recognizes the strides IFC has
made in recent months. However,
she has called on them to get these
programs off the ground, saying,
“IFC is making great strides on
beginning a program that will
work for their council, but needs
more manpower and volunteers to
get off the ground.”
However, even if IFC has tried
to repair itself, these attempts
have not manifested after the self-
imposed ban.
Since the suspension imposed
on social programming by IFC
there have been regulations placed
on what alcohol can be provided by
fraternities at mixers and parties.
Though they have made several
attempts at rectifying the excessive
hospitalizations that occurred last
year little has been done to change
the culture of sexual assault and
misogyny that has been fostered.
Between
2015
and
2016,
there were 88 sexual misconduct
allegations
reported
against
fraternities
on
campus.
The
suspension was, as explained by
Alex Mayhan, former executive
vice president of IFC, meant
to launch a period where the
members of the board would
begin “assessing our policies and
practices and developing a formal
plan going forward.”
Yet
on
issues
of
sexual
misconduct and violence, the
members of IFC have shown little
effort in reforming the bare-bone
system erected to stagnate this
kind of behavior. They should be
making more bold strides towards
making fraternities safer, just as
Panhel has done to raise awareness
of sexual assault.
Prior
to
the
suspension,
associate members of fraternities
attended
mandatory
IFC-led
programming and Change It Up!, a
session offered by the University’s
Office of Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion Training and Education
to bring, as their website describes,
“bystander
intervention
skills
to the University of Michigan
community for the purpose of
building inclusive, respectful and
safe communities.”
Yet some students see these
kinds of programs as insufficient.
I spoke with LSA freshman Noah
Kalishman, who is currently an
associate member of my fraternity.
We both attended the functions,
and neither of us was impressed
with
the
execution
of
such
programming.
Kalishman
described
how
the IFC program and Change It
Up! demonstrated a clear lack of
interest on both the University
and IFC’s behalf in halting the
sanction of rape culture within
Greek life. He stated plainly that,
“these programs are terrible … No
one wants to get lectured at for an
hour … They are simply things that
the University does to say that they
taught us, when in reality they are
terrible and ineffective”.
And, though Bouse-Eaton was
not as critical of these events, to
some extent she agrees, saying,
“Providing the information is so
important, but just as vital is the
integration of this information into
the culture of each sisterhood and
brotherhood, which only happens
through continued conversation.”
Such attitudes have even forced
certain fraternities to take sexual
assault prevention education into
their own hands. In the fraternity
Kalishman is currently joining,
he
described
how
attending
the Panhellenic Speak Out was
mandated by the chapter itself so
that new members could gauge
the effects of sexual misconduct,
especially within Greek life.
Kalishman was laudatory of the
Speak Out, which he felt was both
deeply moving and galvanizing,
saying, “(The Speak Out) made
me think about things that I have
seen in my time at Michigan …
It illustrated that anyone in the
community could become a victim
of sexual assault.” He felt that in
the future, programming should
“emulate that of the Speak Out.”
He was hesitant on making
the programming a mandatory,
implying that it may cause people
to dread attending. However, that
does not mean there are ways for
IFC to test out more personalized
approaches.
As
Bouse-Eaton
described, there are pilot programs
the Office of Greek Life and SAPAC
are launching to encourage more
open discourse on sexual assault
within Greek life.
But, as Bouse-Eaton explained,
IFC cannot rely on Panhel to do
the work for them. It’s time for
IFC to step up in clamping down
on assault within Greek life. To
do so, perhaps it’s time IFC made
a visible step towards emulating
programs such as PPE and the
Speak Out.
And in the meantime, Bouse-
Eaton says, “Keep talking with
your brothers, with your friends
in
sororities,
and
do
some
examination of both yourself and
your chapters. That’s how true
culture change starts.”
Note:
Cass
Bouse-Eaton’s
personal views don’t necessarily
reflect those of the Office of Greek
Life or the National Panhellenic
Conference.
Panhel supports what IFC hasn’t
JOEL DANILEWITZ | COLUMN
Joel Danilewitz can be reached at
joeldan@umich.edu.
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FROM THE DAILY
T
he Parkland, Fla. massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
and the more recent shooting at Central Michigan University have
renewed the cycle of heated political debate and media discussion
surrounding gun control in the United States. For members of the National
Rifle Association and others, the salience of the issue of safety in and around
school grounds provides an avenue to push for an increase in armed security.
However, we at The Michigan Daily believe that the wave of gun violence that
plagues our nation directly results from the alarming leniency of gun laws
within the United States and the culture that surrounds the NRA and the
political power the lobbying group wields. Despite the devastating trends of
gun violence, we are optimistic that light can be brought to the issue and that
meaningful reform is possible.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com