This LSA senior is a model
University of Michigan student.
Raised in a family of educators,
she is beyond attentive in class,
constantly present during office
hours and dedicates respect to her
teachers — she is someone who
cares deeply about how she earns
her grade in a class. She said she
is also an anxious student, to the
point of being a perfectionist.
It felt like it was these traits, she
said, that were taken advantage of
by her GSI when he harassed her
and several other female students
in her Communications class.
But what is also comes across
surprising to the LSA senior, along
with others, is the lack of follow-up
from the administration after they
spoke about their experiences.
It was the first semester of her
junior year in the 2016 fall semester
and she was taking a class with
Assistant
Professor
Muzammil
Hussain.
After
a
particularly
difficult exam and an upcoming
project, the LSA senior and her
group were directed to meet with
their graduate student instructor,
Naz Khan. Khan was also a law
school student.
Sitting in Espresso Royale after
class, Khan and the group talked
for two hours, the LSA senior
said, and nothing was related to
class. When she said she needed
dinner, he offered to take them to a
restaurant so they could talk about
the project they had not touched
on enough. The senior and her
female group member wondered
if that was even allowed. She said
he assured them it was normal for
student conferences.
There was still no discussion of
the class. He began talking about
past relationships.
She said he asked a question
that implied what the potential
consequences of having a sexual
relationship with a student would
be.
“I literally was like, ‘I cannot
believe you just said that,’” she said.
“And he was like, ‘No, no, no, I don’t
have someone in mind.’ He was
sitting next to me and I was like, I
can’t even look at him right now.”
She
recalled
some
of
the
inappropriate dialogue of that
night.
“Oh my God … this was the
worst part,” she said. “And he said
something like, ‘I think about ass
and titties all the time.’ And my
friend and I were like, ‘I’m sorry?’ I
literally was like, jaw-dropped, like,
I can’t even believe these words are
coming out of your mouth. And he
just laughed and he was, like, very
much treating us like we were in no
way students.”
At the end of the dinner, the girls
tried to pay, but he took the bill.
She said she felt compelled to stay
because she felt like her grade was
in question.
“I was having this horrible
internal conflict knowing, like,
this is incredibly wrong,” she said.
“And yet he’s totally using that
because he knows that that would
work (with someone like me). I was
very aware of the fact that, like,
there was some manipulation and
I was falling for it … That was the
weirdest part.”
After the dinner, she said she
had other homework and was
going to another restaurant to
work on it. The GSI continued the
conversation — following the girls
there.
“I shouldn’t care about more an
A than I care about my agency and
yet it was still enough to get me to
stay there,” she said.
Later that night, the LSA senior
said she had to go home. Despite
her insistence she could walk alone,
she said the GSI walked her to her
apartment building. Once at her
apartment, she said he kept trying
to stall. She said once she checked
her phone, she realized it was dead.
“I didn’t expect to be as afraid
of that as I was in that moment,”
she said. “Like, so then I was like
really checking my watch. And
he was like, ‘Stop checking your
watch’ … And then I was at one
point I literally yelled at him, I
was like, ‘No, stop. I have to go
upstairs, I have to go to bed, I have
registration for classes at 8:00 a.m.,
I need to go to bed,’ and he like
laughed and was like, ‘Fine, fine.’”
But before she could go up,
the GSI pulled up Facebook and
showed her pictures of a girl in her
discussion section.
“He was like, ‘I mean, she’s
decent in class but look how pretty
she looks in there,’” she said. “He
was like, ‘Yeah, I looked at all of you
on Facebook before.’”
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
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S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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For more stories and coverage, visit
ACADEMICS
As a student at the University
of Michigan, 2008 alum Aisa
Villarosa fell in love with
the
Asian/Pacific
Islander
American Studies Program —
housed in the American Culture
Department
—
because
it
allowed her to learn about other
cultures and her own heritage;
she learned lessons she hadn’t
been exposed to growing up in
the majority-white suburbs of
Detroit.
She said she owes this great
experience in A/PIA Studies
to faculty members, including
longtime
Lecturer
Emily
Lawsin.
Lawsin
has
been
teaching at the University since
2000.
“The number one thing is
just how amazing the A/PIA
Studies faculty are — the ones
that built our experience as
undergraduates,”
Villarosa
explained.
When news began to surface
earlier this year about the
American Culture and Women’s
Studies Departments’ decision
to not renew Lawsin’s contract,
Villarosa took action.
Villarosa is now an attorney,
and aided in the drafting of
updates, fact sheets and a viral
petition on Lawsin’s case. These
documents can all be found
on the A/PIA Alumni Tumblr
page, organized by a coalition of
A/PIA alumni.
“I think that (Lawsin) is just a
really special mentor,” Villarosa
said. “So, it’s been quite easy for
me to say, ‘Hey, I do have a job,
or hey, I have these other things
going on,’ but I would support
her in a heartbeat. And I think
that many other folks also feel
the same and it’s been edited
in the petition, the website,
the Tumblr — these are all just
voluntary things, but we are
happy to do them.”
Villarosa,
who
wrote
an op-ed published in The
Daily earlier this month, said
she is especially disheartened
because the A/PIA program
was so strong during her time
as a University student, and she
does not see it as the same now.
“I think something really
powerful
about
the
A/PIA
Community
upset by ‘U’
treatment of
APIA lecturer
The Runaround: Students,
faculty find OIE dismissing
ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily
After 18 years at the University, beloved
Emily Lawsin’s contract not renewed
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily News Editor
Unhandled bias incident reports leave accused in positions of power
NISA KHAN
Senior MiC Editor
The Ann Arbor City Council
convened
Monday
evening
to vote on a $4.2 million
repurchase of the “Y Lot,” the
former site of the local YMCA
on Fifth Avenue, from local
real estate developer Dennis
Dahlmann. The city originally
bought the land in 2003 and
Dahlmann purchased it four
years ago. The council voted to
postpone the resolution until
April 23, when they will vote in
a closed session. The legislation
amends the budget to not
exceed the $4.2 million from the
General Fund.
Councilmember Jane Lumm,
I-Ward 2, emphasized the vote’s
postponement will allow the
Council to properly review the
implications of the decision and
the legal risks of the project.
“I’m glad we’re going to take
the time and I think there are
important objectives to achieve
in postponement,” Lumm said.
“I would like to see resolving
any litigation and avoid risks
associated with the city holding
this property for a long period
of time and also avoid the
possibility of nothing happening
on this property and I will be
sending some recommendations
for some milestones because
I think it’s imperative that we
understand what it would take
to proceed with the project and
withdraw the lawsuit or the
complaint.”
Four years ago, Dahlmann
bought the 0.8-acre property
for $5.25 million and pledged
to revive the vacant lot with
affordable
housing
and
A
Nature
Biotechnology
study
claims
graduate
students
across
the
country
are
more
than six times as likely to
experience
depression
and
anxiety
compared
to
the
general
population.
Nature
Biotechnology
attributes
these mental health concerns
to social isolation, abstract
work, job-search pressure and
feelings of inadequacy.
Laura
Monschau,
a
psychologist at the University
of
Michigan
Counseling
and
Psychological
Services
psychologist for the Rackham
Graduate
School,
wrote
in an email interview that
Grad, PhD
tracks see
high rates
of anxiety
ACADEMICS
Study shows grad students
over six times as likely
to have mental illnesses
REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Mayor Christopher Taylor listens to proposed changes during the city council meeting at City Hall Monday.
City Council decides to postpone “Y
Lot” vote, cites need for further debate
The new vote is scheduled to take place during a closed session next Monday
ALEX COTT
Daily Staff Reporter
See COUNCIL, Page 3
Starting fall 2018, the University
of Michigan will partner with
Barnes & Noble College on a new
textbook supplier program that
works to increase convenient
textbook
purchases,
rentals
and returns on campus. The
partnership will also reportedly
assist students with textbook
affordability and provide various
price options for conditions of
returned books.
The
program
will
make
Barnes & Noble the primary
textbook dealer for the University,
requiring the retailer to stock all
textbooks and materials requested
by professors for their classes.
Students will be able to search for
their textbooks through an online
Bookseller
agreement
to increase
availability
CAMPUS LIFE
Barnes & Noble will be
primary textbook seller,
offer free shipping to stores
MATT HARMON
Daily News Editor
I have a lawsuit
against the
University.
It’s clear that
this is an act of
retaliation.
See A/PIA, Page 3
See GSI, Page 3
See B&N, Page 3
See CAPS, Page 2