currently 
provides 
financial 

support to over 300 active 
student organizations.

“It’s about rewarding the 

student orgs that come back to 
us … and see what impact their 
making,” said Lansey.

CSG discussed a resolution 

to amend its current elections 
code, 
authored 
by 
Medical 

student Whit Froehlich and 
Law student Kevin Deutsch. 
During the CSG assembly held 
last week, the representatives 
addressed the concerns shaping 
their elections. The assembly 
established that CSG’s cannot 
prohibit these distinct separate 
parties 
from 
forming 
in 

elections

However, to improve the 

state 
of 
elections 
within 

their purview, CSG approved 
several 
new 
guidelines. 
A 

separate Elections Court will 
be 
implemented 
to 
address 

future party-related concerns, 
failure to meet deadlines will be 
reprimanded, names on election 
ballots 
will 
be 
randomized 

rather 
than 
alphabetized 

and 
transparent 
campaign 

endorsements will be mandated.

After the approval of this 

resolution, CSG continued its 
conversation on how to better 
its governing body.

The student representatives 

discussed 
a 
resolution 
to 

implement 
a 
definition 
of 

“executive official,” which is 

not included in the current 
CSG 
Constitution. 
Froehlich 

and Rackham student Sammi 
Meister proposed a resolution.

“This lack of clarity hinders 

the President’s ability to staff 
the 
Executive 
branch,” 
the 

students wrote.

In an effort to hear more 

student voices, CSG discussed 
a 
resolution 
to 
re-establish 

elected 
representative 
office 

hours. 
The 
author 
of 
the 

resolution, Benjamin Gerstein, 
an 
LSA 
sophomore, 
looked 

to 
the 
LSA 
and 
Rackham 

Student Governments’ policies 
to shape those of CSG. Both 
LSA SG and RSG require each 
elected representative to hold 
office 
hours 
to 
meet 
with 

their constituents, which has 
improved 
their 
respective 

reaches with the students they 
are representing.

This resolution was passed 

and will now require CSG 
elected representatives to hold 
monthly office hours to speak 
with students and hear their 
opinions 
and 
perspectives. 

CSG plans to measure the 
effectiveness of their office 
hours 
by 
surveying 
both 

students who attended and the 
representatives.

“Central 
Student 

Government’s . . . mission is 
to 
encourage 
student 
civic 

engagement, 
give 
voices 

to 
student 
concerns, 
and 

enhance student welfare and 
the Michigan experience for 
everyone,” Gerstein wrote.

The Michigan Daily — www.michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 — 3A

REVELER S AT THE ARK

AARON BAKER/Daily

The Revelers, a Louisiana music group that mixes a variety of southern styles, performs at the Ark Tuesday night. 

CSG
From Page 2A

transportation inhibited many 
students from receiving local 
health care services.

“One clear solution was 

to have UHS offer these 
services,” Parish wrote in an 
email. “We’ve been working 
hard 
to 
design 
processes, 

train staff and make changes 
to the UHS environment (like 
gender-inclusive forms and 
bathrooms) in collaboration 
with CAPS, Spectrum Center 
and of course trans and non-
binary students themselves.”

Parish said access to reliable 

health 
care 
can 
improve 

mental health and quality of 
life for transgender and non-
binary students.

“These new UHS services 

are a very welcome addition 
to the network of support 
U-M is able to offer our trans 
and 
non-binary 
students,” 

Parish wrote. “Since we began 
advertising UHS Trans Care 
Services 
during 
Welcome 

Week, I have heard from 
many trans and non-binary 
students who are interested in 
learning more and scheduling 
appointments.”

UHS 
physician 
Rachelle 

Wilcox described how the 
Trans Care Team will combat 
health disparities impacting 
members of the trans and non-
binary community experience 
due 
to 
marginalization, 

oppression and violence.

“We hope that offering 

accessible, affirming health 
care to our trans and non-
binary 
students 
will 
help 

complement 
the 
other 

services available to them 
through our campus partners 
and contribute to a culture 
of support and inclusion on 
campus,” Wilcox said.

TransForm 
Tech 
Chair 

Jay Hash, an Engineering 
junior, said the new UHS 
services make transitioning 
more accessible for students. 
TransForm, 
an 
advocacy 

and support group for trans 
and non-gender conforming 
people, 
helps 
connect 

transgender 
students 
with 

resources.

“For the people who want 

to pursue a medical transition, 
(the Trans Care Team) makes 
it much easier for them,” Hash 
said. “Making formal therapy 
accessible to trans people on 
campus is important because 
there 
are 
people 
coming 

from all over the world and 
all over the country so they 
might not have access to that 
… For people who think that 
hormone therapy is not an 
option at home, they can come 
to the University and get it 
here.”

Hash 
said 
he 
will 
be 

transferring 
their 
medical 

care to UHS because it is more 
accessible. However, Hash is 
concerned the new services 
might 
pressure 
students, 

who may be uncertain of 
transitioning, 
to 
transition 

because of its easy campus 
accessibility.

“There are trans people 

who do not want to medically 
transition and it may put 
pressure on them; but for 
people who do, it is a very good 
service and is very helpful,” 
Hash said “Those who do not 
want to medically transition 
might feel pressure to do so 
because the University makes 
it possible.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Jordan 

Furr, a transgender student, 
disagrees with the comment 
that this may add pressure 
for transgender students to 
transition.

“It’s 
not 
like 
they 
are 

advertising for their team,” 
Furr said. “So in a way you 
only find out about them if 
you identify being trans and 
are looking for the resources. 
So 
anyone 
who 
already 

found them might want to 
transition.”

Furr said he will be also 

shift his medical care from 
Detroit to UHS. He is glad 
UHS 
is 
becoming 
more 

trans-friendly 
but 
still 

feels 
the 
health 
services 

could be more sensitive to 
the trans community. Furr 
said UHS often uses the 
wrong names and pronouns, 
adding it would be helpful 
for the health services to be 
more 
conscientious, 
from 

receptionists to doctors.

Furr was first directed to 

the Trans Care Team when 
he received a testosterone 

prescription but did not know 
how to inject it. He said the 
health care providers were 
helpful and provided advice 
and resources.

“I think that (the Trans 

Care Team) helps,” Furr said. 
“From talking to other people, 

I know it’s a good resource. I 
know another guy who is doing 
it, and my friend sees one of 
the doctors and they are all 
really nice, understanding and 
accepting, and it’s important 
because if we are paying so 
much to go here we should at 
least have doctors that know 
what they are doing.”

nurse at the University in 1984, 
said the main difference between 
previous strikes and the nurses’ 
current 
efforts, 
however, 
is 

communication.

“Back then, because we didn’t 

have the same technology to be 
able to communicate that we have 
today, I don’t think we were as 
aware of what was going on at the 
bargaining table,” Jackson said. 

Armelagos said through the 

years UMPNC has worked to 
build a positive relationship with 
hospital administration, but over 
time, with the development of new 
bargaining techniques, the nurses’ 
relationship with the hospital has 
eroded.

“We built the respect that got 

us 
interest-based 
bargaining,” 

Armelagos said. “We built the 
respect to work as equal partners 
with the University. (Interest-
based bargaining) motivated the 
two parties to come together and 
work together.”

Interest-based bargaining is a 

problem-solving approach during 
which the two parties jointly define 
the issues, brainstorm solutions 
and seek creative solutions that 
address shared interests. Unlike 
traditional bargaining, interest-
based bargaining does not involve 
coercion, instead relying on both 
parties seeking to fulfill each 
other’s interests.

Armelagos explained during 

negotiations between the nurses 

and 
the 
administration 
in 

2001, 2004, 2008 and 2011, the 
University 
employed 
interest-

based bargaining techniques.

“The 
parties 
tried 
to 

understand and appreciate the 
other’s perspective,” Armelagos 
said. “If one side had a problem, 
the other side had one too.”

Armelagos said the hospital 

owes its success to the unity that 
was developed between the nurses 
and the administration through 
interest-based bargaining.

“That’s how we gained magnet 

status,” Armelagos said. “It was a 
dual partnership. When you have 
a strong union, nurses can stand 
up for their patients, but a strong 
union makes it more difficult for 
a corporate hospital. Our bottom 
line is the patients, the hospitals 
bottom line should be the patients. 
Make no mistake, now, there is 
a new regime in place that has 
no interest in an interest-based 
process.”

One of the main differences 

Armelagos and Jackson cited 
in current negotiations was the 
hospital’s treatment of the nurses 
during the bargaining process. 
Jackson said it was particularly 
disheartening for nurses when 
they had to file an unfair labor 
charge.

“This particular work stoppage 

vote is especially about how we 
were treated at the bargaining 
table,” Jackson said.

The nurses filed the charge 

against Michigan Medicine for 
prohibiting them from wearing 
their red union shirts and pro-

union buttons.

Lecturers’ concerns
While LEO, an organization 

representing nearly 1,700 non-
tenure track faculty members 
across the University’s three 
campuses, did not have to file an 
unfair labor charge Robinson 
believes LEO and the UMPNC 
represent similar issues at the 
University.

“Both 
unions 
represent 

employees that are very oriented 
to the people they provide their 
services to,” Robinson said. “It’s 
very care-oriented work and there 
are a lot of overlapping interests 
between the two groups.”

When LEO authorized a strike 

for April 9, they were bargaining 
with the University for salary 
increases.

At the time, the minimum 

starting salary for a U-M lecturer 
was $34,500 in Ann Arbor, 
$28,300 in Dearborn and $27,300 
in Flint. LEO asked the minimum 
be raised to $60,000 in Ann Arbor 
and $56,000 in Dearborn and 
Flint. After bargaining for months 
with the University when LEO’s 
contract expired May 29, LEO 
voted to ratify a new contract 
that included a significant salary 
increase.

By 
September 
2020, 
the 

minimum salary at which the 
University can hire lecturers will 
increase across the three campus. 
In Ann Arbor, the base salary 
will increase 47.8 percent from 
$34,500 to $51,000. In Flint, there 
will be a 50.2 percent increase 
from $27,300 to $41,000. Finally, 

in Dearborn, the starting salary 
will increase 44.9 percent from 
$28,300 to $41,000.

Robinson said LEO owes the 

success of its new contract to the 
imminent threat posed by work 
stoppage.

“It (the impending strike) made 

a very big difference in the case of 
LEO,” Robinson said. “In fact, I 
would say that was the first time 
the administration began to take 
us seriously and bargaining began 
to move in the right direction.”

Graduate students’ concerns
Similarly, in April 2017 the 

Graduate Employee Organization, 
a union representing graduate 
student instructors and graduate 
student staff at the University, 
authorized a walkout in an effort 
to create paid positions and 
guarantee union protection for 
graduate students working on 
diversity programs as part of the 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
plan.

The University launched the 

five-year DEI plan in October 
2016 to achieve a more diverse and 
equitable campus, which some 
have criticized for a lack of swift 
action.

Current GEO President Emily 

Gauld said the union decided 
collective 
graduate 
student 

action was the only way to get 
the administration to take their 
concerns seriously.

“Our walkout authorization 

showed we were willing to fight 
for it in a very real and tangible 
way,” Gauld said. “It showed the 
graduate students were willing to 

take action to see the changes that 
we believe are necessary.”

While University spokesman 

Rick Fitzgerald was unable to 
comment on negotiations with 
the UMPNC as the nurses are 
still voting on the contract, he 
said the University does not make 
bargaining decisions based on 
threats.

“The university does not believe 

a strike or the threat of a strike is 
necessary to move the negotiations 
toward a settlement,” Fitzgerald 
wrote in an email interview. “We 
also do not believe a strike or the 
threat of a strike influences the 
final, negotiated settlement. We 
also need to point out that under 
state law, labor strikes by public 
employees are prohibited.”

Much 
as 
the 
UMPNC 

and LEO reached a tentative 
agreement shortly after the strike 
authorizations, Gauld says GEO 
reached a tentative agreement the 
day before the walkout was set to 
take place.

Ultimately, Gauld said the 

number of walkout authorizations 
that have occurred over the course 
of two years is a positive sign for 
unions at the University.

“It is really exciting to see 

increased 
labor 
organization,” 

Gauld said. “The strength of 
unions is increasing, especially 
at the University of Michigan. 
Unions are becoming more united 
even in the face of institutions that 
seek to divide unions and I think 
that is powerful.”

“These new UHS 

services are a 
very welcome 
addition to the 

network of 

support U-M is 
able to offer our 
trans and non-
binary students,”

RESOURCES
From Page 1A

more than $1 million award 
with 
Donna 
Strickland, 

Canadian physicist and 2013 
director of the Optical Society 
of America, while the other half 
was awarded to Arthur Ashkin, 
an affiliate of Bell Laboratories 
in New Jersey. Mourou and 
Strickland 
published 
an 

article 
in 
1985 
on 
their 

development of the chirped 
pulse amplification, a process 
that creates short and intense 
laser pulses through stretching 
and 
quickly 
compressing 

light matter. These pulses are 
now widely applied for the 
industrial and medical uses, 
including laser eye surgery.

Ashkin received the award 

for his work developing optical 
tweezers that utilize laser light 
to maneuver tiny particles, 
such as viruses. At age 96, he is 
the oldest Nobel laureate.

In a video statement released 

by 
Ecole 
Polytechnique, 

a 
top 
French 
college, 

Mourou explained the effects 
of their achievement.

“It’s something that sort of 

never happens at this level. I 
am very, very happy to share 
this distinction with my former 
student 
Donna 
Strickland 

and also to share it with Art 
Ashkin, for whom I have a lot 
of respect … We invented a 
technique that made the laser 
extremely powerful. With the 
technology we have developed, 
laser power has been increased 
about a million times, maybe 
even a billion.”

Strickland 
is 
the 
first 

woman to receive the Nobel 
Prize in physics since Maria 
Goeppert Mayer in 1963, who 
was awarded for her work in 
nuclear physics. The only other 
woman to receive this award 
was Marie Curie in 1903. In 
a interview with the academy 
after the award announcement, 
Strickland 
highlighted 
the 

importance 
of 
recognizing 

female physicists and their 
achievements.

“Obviously 
we 
need 
to 

celebrate 
women 
physicists, 

because 
we’re 
out 
there,” 

Strickland said. “Hopefully in 
time it’ll start to move forward 
at a faster rate, maybe.”

Michael Moloney, CEO of 

the 
American 
Institute 
of 

Physics, congratulated all of 
the laureates and expressed 
support of Strickland’s work 
and achievements.

“It is also a personal delight 

to see Dr. Strickland break the 
55-year hiatus since a woman 
has been awarded the Nobel 
Prize in physics, making this 
year’s award all the more 
historic.”

PHYSICS
From Page 1A

UNIONS
From Page 1A

