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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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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

