by the Trump administration.
The
Trump
administration’s
announcement
caused
uncertainty in the markets as
the tariffs go against years of
precedence of free trade with
China.
Director Scott Jacobs said the
program helps companies “step
back and assess their business
practices in order to become
more competitive.”
“The
whole
idea
of
the
assistance model is to help

companies invest in themselves
by building their capabilities
faster
and
more
efficiently
than they could without the
program,” Jacobs said.
The program offers client
companies guidance in a variety
of areas, including sales and
marketing, personnel training
and new product development.
Firms can qualify for up to
$75,000 in matching funds from
the center to cover the cost of
business improvement projects.
The
grants
announced
Wednesday
represent
a
$300,000 decrease in funding
overall from 2017 when the

Department
of
Commerce
designated a total of $13.3
million to TAACs. 2018 marks a
$600,000 decrease in funding
for the Great Lakes Trade
Adjustment Assistance Center,
which was awarded $1.7 million
in 2017. In 2016, the Center
received $1.65 million from the
EDA.
Jacobs said the center was
currently in the third year of a
five-year cooperative agreement
between the Department of
Commerce and the University,
and that federal funding is
not distributed in a “uniform
manner.”

“It
ends
up
fluctuating,
and we were disappointed in
that lower amount of funding,
however, over the three years
so far … we’ve received well
over $3 million, which, in sum,
is adequate for us to our work,”
Jacobs said.
“Our clients and companies
across the U.S. are worried
about a potential increase in raw
material costs, but largely they
haven’t seen that yet,” Jacobs
said. “Anything beyond that —
restrictions in trade or a bunch
of uncertainty — you know, it’s
unclear what’s going to happen
with that.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 — 3A

refugee,
started
his
talk
by
acknowledging
his
refugee
identity, jokingly referring to his
transformation
“from
refugee
to
bourgeoisie.”
Nguyen
and
his family fled to the United
States in 1975 after the fall of
Saigon, settling in a refugee
camp in Fort Indiantown Gap,
Pennsylvania. He explained he
still feels like a refugee because
his earliest memories are of this
time when he was separated
from his parents and brother — a
story parallel to the child-parent
separation crisis of today at the
U.S.-Mexican border.
“That’s why I take it personally
when I hear stories today about
children being taken away from
their parents, because I feel there
is no justification of that,” Nguyen
said.
He then talked about the idea
of “good” and “bad” refugees,
describing the limitations of these
one-sided views and emphasizing
every person’s right in America to
be mediocre, a line that garnered a
lot of applause.
“I resist this whole idea of
good and bad refugees or good
and bad immigrants, because
what that implies is the only
acceptable refugee or immigrant
is the exceptional refugee, the
exceptional immigrant,” Nguyen
said. “But you can only admit one
or two of those people, and I think
that’s exactly the intent behind
this idea of good and bad refugees
or immigrants. I, for one, believe in
America in which equality means
the equal right to be mediocre.”
Nguyen also spoke about U.S.
and Vietnamese perceptions of
the Vietnam War. He shared
how the war wasn’t over for the
Vietnamese people surrounding
him in his refugee camp growing
up with the losses and grief they
still carried. He described himself
feeling “split in two” while
watching
“Apocalypse
Now,”
at first being on the side of the
American soldiers until he saw
them killing Vietnamese. Through

this movie and other media of its
kind, he realized how powerful
and destructive stories can be.
“Stories can empower and
stories can destroy us at the same
time, and that’s one of the reasons
why I became a writer,” Nguyen
said.
Throughout his talk, Nguyen
read excerpts from four of his
books:
“The
Sympathizer,”
“Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam
and the Memory of War,” “The
Refugees” and “The Displaced:
Refugee
Writers
on
Refugee
Lives.” After sharing his stories,
he held a question-and-answer
session. In one response, he
emphasized the need to write
stories that bring people together.
“We have to change how stories
are told,” Nguyen said. “We need
to write stories in America that
build bridges instead of building
walls. We need to tell stories
opening our hearts instead of
closing our minds.”
LSA junior Hannah Brauer
read some of Nguyen’s books
in her classes and appreciated
the viewpoint he provided on
the
Vietnam
War.
She
said
something that resonated with
her was his reference to a New
York Times review for his book
“The Sympathizer” that called it
“the voice for the voiceless” when
really those voices were just not
being heard.
“I like how he referenced the
New York Times review they gave
him about the book, when really
it’s not the voiceless, it’s those who
popular culture refuses to hear,”
Brauer said. “So he’s trying to be
that voice that is heard, and he is
being is heard.”
Christina Do, an employee
at
Washtenaw
Community
College, is also a fan of Nguyen’s
writing and relates to many of
his experiences as her parents
are also refugees of the Vietnam
War. She talked about the power
of seeing her identity represented
by Nguyen.
“The feeling of seeing someone
who
shares
your
experience,
who shares your identity in some
way, it’s an incredibly gratifying
experience,” Do said.

The University of Michigan’s
Central Student Government
met Tuesday night to pass
a
resolution
to
fund
the

Buses
to
Ballots
initiative
and another to help fund the
Career Center’s JCPenney Suit
Up event.
The assembly also passed
a resolution to recommend
adding motion activated lights
in academic buildings at the
University. Shortly after the
meeting began, CSG observed a
moment of silence in memorial
of 9/11.
The
Buses
to
Ballots
initiative was born out of the
Big
Ten
Voting
Challenge,
the conference-wide push to
increase student voter turnout
in the 2018 midterm elections.
Buses would take students to
and from polling places from 6
a.m. to 11 p.m. on Election Day
in November in an attempt to
increase student voter turnout.
The 2014 midterms only
produced a 14 percent college
student voter turnout, which

students and administrators
are eager to raise.
CSG Vice President Izzy
Baer, an LSA junior, says
this is a great opportunity
to highlight and overcome
barriers to voting for students.

“CSG is very excited to have
the opportunity to support
student voting accessibility on
election day,” Baer wrote later
to The Daily. “While it is vital
for students to register and
vote, there are difficulties —
such as transportation — that
are often not discussed. We see
this as a positive step forward
in increasing student voting
turnout across the board this
November.”
CSG
President
Daniel
Greene,
a
Public
Policy
senior, discussed the positive
implications that subsidizing
transportation to the polls will
bring.
“CSG is excited to uphold
(University)
President
Schlissel’s
Big
Ten
Voter
Challenge and help improve
voter
turnout
amongst
Michigan students,” Greene

wrote to The Daily following
the meeting. “AR 8-009 makes
voting less of a burden by
addressing
barriers
created
by some polling site’s off-
campus locations. The funding
allocation subsidizes student
transportation to the polls,
so students have guaranteed,
direct transportation to their
assigned polling stations.”

Greene also says CSG is
dedicated to the student body’s
interests and will continue to
pass policies to achieve this.

“CSG remains committed
to empowering student voices
beyond campus, and I believe
the resolutions helps Central
Student Government embody
the University’s mission to
develop leaders and citizens
who will challenge the present
and enrich the future,” Greene
wrote.

Engineering
junior
Zeke
Majeske
was
happy
the
resolution passed, but says
these busing systems will bring
out many students who only

live in Ann Arbor for their
educational career, swaying the
votes against the permanent
residents living in the city. He
expressed his concern with
this affair.
“I am afraid that the buses
will bring lots of non-residents
to polling places where they
will vote in city elections,”
Majeske wrote to The Daily.
“I am happy the resolution
passed, I just like to vote ‘no
with rights’ on stuff if I think
more needs to be said.”
The
Career
Center’s
JCPenney Suit Up event is
taking place September 30,
and will be busing students to
JCPenney. CSG also passed a
resolution to help sustain the
Career Center’s Clothes Closet
for non-traditional sizes.
Other
resolutions
passed
included the fall 2018 CSG
budget plan, as well as a
resolution to amend the CSG
election code. Under this new
code, students would not be able
to endorse the representatives
through social media platforms
without filling out the official
endorsement paperwork.

REFUGEE
From Page 1A

TARIFFS
From Page 1A

on campus and the Latinx
communities in Ann Arbor.
In addition to the opening
ceremony, La Casa is organizing
events
featuring
Latinx
professors and guest speakers
such as Prof. Ruth Behar and
Prof. Ashley Lucas.

The
Center
for
Multi-
Ethnic
Student
Affairs
and
La
Casa
are
working
collaboratively to feature more
than 20 events over the next
month.
This
collaboration
marks
progress
from
last
year’s boycott organized by La
Casa against MESA, claiming
they
overlooked
Latinx
students on campus.
La
Casa
Lead
Director

Lesley Rivas, an LSA junior,
explained how La Casa works
to uplift Latinx students at the
University.
“We try to give leadership
opportunities where they can
learn about their history, learn
how to be activists on campus
and how to take initiative,”
she said. “The Latinx Heritage
Month this year is really a
product of many months of

really hard work put on by
students,
staff
and
faculty,
in contrast to last year when
our
heritage
month
wasn’t
prioritized. This month we
really
emphasized
the
fact
that we matter on campus,
our community is a priority,
especially right now because of
how the families and students
here are being impacted by
everything politically, namely

Trump’s administration and
negative media portrayal.”
LSA
sophomore
Yosabeth
Guerrero explained how she is
continuously thankful for the
community she has become
a part of and the support it
provides her.
“Being Latina means I’m able
to represent my culture and be
with people who look like me,
people with the same skin tones

and with the same practices
and traditions,” Guerrero said.
“It’s
important,
especially
on this campus because it is
a PWI, predominantly white
institution, so when we get
together, we form a coalition
in order to provide a better
support
system
amongst
ourselves as a marginalized
group on campus. I feel like I’m
back home.”

LATINX
From Page 1A

an article published in Medium
claimed the Stanford prison
experiment
lacks
credibility.
The article said new interviews
revealed the guards had been
coached,
and
raised
other
issues having to do with the
methodology and replicability
of the study.
The
Stanford
prison
experiment is not the only
example of canonical psychology
research coming under fire. A
number of studies –– including
the Milgram experiment, which
was
meant
to
demonstrate
the
disturbing
extent
of
human
obedience
––
have
received
criticism
for
lack
of
replicability
or
sloppy
procedures.
Many
of
these
studies are considered essential
to the field and appear in
standard psychology textbooks.
According
to
Howard
Kurtzman,
acting
executive
director
of
the
American
Psychological
Association’s
Science
Directorate,
the
problem of older psychology
studies being re-evaluated is
not new but part of a continual
trend.
“I see this as a gradual
process,” Kurtzman said. “There
are some findings that we’ve
thought were true that maybe
aren’t, but more commonly the
magnitudes of the effects may
be smaller than we realized.”
Kurtzman said a major issue
is that many older studies have
been difficult for researchers
to repeat due to a variety
of
factors
including
small
sample sizes and careless use
of
statistical
methods.
He
clarified replicability problems
affect all scientific disciplines,
not
just
psychology.
The

National Academies of Science,
Engineering, and Medicine is
currently conducting a study on
reproducibility in science.
Over the past five to 10 years,
Kurtzman said, the psychology
community has been working
to
address
the
replicability
crisis, focusing on increasing
sample
sizes,
sharing
data
and pre-registering studies to
promote transparency.
Because
of
the
attention
being
paid
to
replicability
issues,
Kurtzman
believes
research quality and reliability
will improve within the next
10 to 20 years with journals
and scientific funding agencies
increasing their standards.
He
estimated
the
field’s
focus on high-quality research
will begin to change teaching
practices for psychology over
the next five to 10 years.
“I
think
going
forward
research that is published in
journals will be more reliable,”
Kurtzman said. “All that will
filter into teaching. I’m sure it’s
being discussed already at the
graduate level and seminars, and
that will filter down, I think, to
undergraduate
teaching
and
eventually into textbooks.”
The replicability crisis has
also become an area of focus
for the University of Michigan
Department
of
Psychology.
Patricia
Reuter-Lorenz,
chair of the Department, said
psychology faculty are well
aware of the problem.
“I know that there’s been a
lot of attention paid in smaller
groups of faculty and graduate
students in particular to the
replication crisis and improving
the rigor of research methods,”
Reuter-Lorenz said. “We have
several
department-wide
initiatives that are organized to
achieve those goals.”
Though
the
department

cannot dictate what professors
teach,
Reuter-Lorenz
added,
faculty
are
committed
to
training students to become
good scientists.
“I don’t tell faculty they have
to do things a particular way,
but I think there’s enough of an
appreciation for the importance
of this that we have as a shared
value that we will be rigorous
in the methodologies that we
teach,” Reuter-Lorenz said.
In addition to the replicability
crisis, Reuter-Lorenz noted the
University has been affected
by
the
fact
that
standard
studies like the Stanford prison
experiment
and
Milgram
experiment have been facing
scrutiny.
“I think there’s some classic
studies that have been part
of many of our introductory
classes and gateway classes that
have come under fire, that have
come under question, because of
methods and ethics and things
like that,” Reuter-Lorenz said.
Still,
Reuter-Lorenz
and
Kurtzman
said
introductory
psychology
textbooks
have
not necessarily been updated
to
reflect
controversies
surrounding
older,
quintessential
psychology
studies. Kurtzman said whether
older studies like the Stanford
prison
experiment
remain
in textbooks depends on the
textbook
author’s
goal
and
approach.
“If a textbook author does
address that study, they would
be
well-advised
to
include
coverage of the controversies
surrounding its methods and to
address what it teaches us about
the importance of institutional
review boards,” Kurtzman said.
According to Reuter-Lorenz,
this
re-evaluation
of
older
psychology studies has elicited
a
response
from
University

psychology professors. She said
faculty are generally aware of
the issues with older studies
and make sure to address them
in class.
“Our
instructors
are
cognizant of the importance
of
staying
up-to-date
on
developments
in
the
field,
that’s why they’re here at
the University of Michigan,”
Reuter-Lorenz said. “Science
is a work in progress. There’s
always new discoveries and it’s
very important that our faculty
stay on top of those.”
In fact, Reuter-Lorenz added,
the Society for the Teaching
of Psychology published two
papers in 2016 outlining how
professors should cover studies
with
dubious
methodology.
One
paper
discussed
the
Stanford
prison
experiment
while the othertouched on the
Milgram experiment. Reuter-
Lorenz said one introductory
psychology professor at the
University has been using both
to inform her teaching.
LSA senior Melissa Hall, who
studies psychology, said older
studies including the Stanford
prison experiment, the Bobo
doll experiment and the Genie
experiment are still examined
in
introductory
courses.
Though Hall said she has not
taken a psychology course that
addressed the re-evaluation of
these studies, her professors
and
classmates
do
discuss
controversies surrounding older
research.
“Often people will raise their
hands and try and contradict the
information and explain how
there’s been controversy,” Hall
said. “The professors would
address it then, but they still use
them as examples.”
According
to
Hall,
many
older psychology studies used
methods that would not meet

modern norms for scientific
methodology or ethics. Those
generational
differences
are
typically
addressed
in
her
University classes, Hall said,
though these older studies are
still treated as valid examples.
“Many
of
these
studies
obviously took place many years
ago, so we just kind of address
the differences in generation
and why it’s not all applicable

nowadays,” Hall said.
Reuter-Lorenz said students
can
learn
from
discussing
studies that are now considered
flawed.
“There are better methods
that can be used than were
used in the past and they

PSYCH
From Page 1A

CATHERINE NOUHAN
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com

Central Student Government funds
Buses to Ballots student voter initiative