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Thursday, October 11, 2018 — 3A

RIGHTS IN MYANM AR

MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/Daily
Wai Wai Nu, international award winning human rights activist, speaks about her advocacy work with Rohingya women at the CEW+ 
Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Lecture in the Michigan Theater Wednesday evening. 

violates this expectation 
and harms students will 
not be tolerated and will 
be addressed with serious 
consequences. Such actions 
interfere with our students’ 
opportunities, violate their 
academic 
freedom 
and 
betray 
our 
university’s 
educational mission.”
The 
University 
is 
currently 
taking 
steps 
to 
discipline 
American 
Culture Associate professor 
John Cheney-Lippold, the 
first instructor to deny a 
letter of recommendation, 
a letter obtained by The 
Daily 
confirmed. 
The 
letter, written by Interim 
LSA Dean Elizabeth Cole 
and addressed to Cheney-
Lippold, 
states 
he 
will 
not be eligible for a salary 
increase 
in 
the 
2018-
2019 school year and his 
sabbatical credits will be 
frozen for two years.
The 
Office 
of 
the 
President 
letter 
also 
announced the University 
has created a panel of 
faculty to “examine the 
intersection 
between 
political 
thought/
ideology 
and 
faculty 
members’ 
responsibilities 
to students.” The panel 
will 
be 
chaired 
by 
President Emeritus James 
Duderstadt, a professor of 
science and engineering.
The 
letter 
outlined 
the goals of the panel, 

which include reviewing 
current university policy, 
examining similar policies 
of peer institutions and 
gathering 
stakeholder 
input. 
Ultimately, 
the 
panel is supposed to give 
recommendations on how 
to clarify existing policy 
or create new policy that 
better 
addresses 
how 
faculty should balance their 
personal views with their 
responsibilities to students.
The letter also addressed 
a Penny Stamps Speaker 
Series presentation given 
by 
Emory 
Douglas, 
an 
artist for the Black Panther 
Party in 1967 through the 
1980s. On one slide of his 
presentation, he displayed 
images of Adolf Hitler and 
Israeli 
Prime 
Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu saying 
they both had committed 
genocide.
The 
University 
stated 
Israel 
was 
not 
singled 
out, as the presentation 
included imagery critical 
of other political leaders, 
and the ideas of speakers 
are not always reflective 
of those of the University. 
However, it extended an 
apology to those offended.
“Hitler and the genocide 
that 
he 
led, 
however, 
represent a horrific level of 
evil with few if any parallels 
in human history,” the letter 
read. “We understand how 
these images are offensive, 
particularly in this case to 
Jewish students. We are 
sorry students were hurt by 
this experience.”

PANEL
From Page 1A

Although I do think it is a little 
troubling when people with 
psychology backgrounds don’t 
understand what a normal 
distribution looks like.”
The Daily’s data estimates 
PSYCH 225 is the only course 
in LSA that uses a true normal 
distribution centered at B-/
C+. The vast majority of 
curved courses use a skewed 
distribution, which results in 
significantly higher average 
grades.
Conley also argued the 
curve used to benefit students’ 
overall grade, contrary to what 
many of her students believed. 
“The curve actually always 
helped out students, it didn’t 
hurt students,” Conley said. “I 
would say that but I think they 
didn’t believe me except for the 
ones maybe who would come 
in and look at the distribution 
with me.”
Course 
evaluation 
data 
obtained by The Daily through 
the Freedom of Information 
Act also shows many students 
in the course felt like they did 
not know what was expected 
of 
them. 
Previous 
course 
evaluations show 69 percent 
of people felt they knew 
what was expected of them 
in the course. 88 percent of 
University courses had better 
expectation scores.
The 
LSA 
junior 
also 
mentioned 
the 
issue 
of 
expectations. She explained 
even though the syllabus is 
pretty cohesive, the exam 
style and the grading scale are 
not articulated thoroughly by 
instructors.
“The 
syllabus 
is 
very 
detailed, and we also have 
to sign a student contract,” 
she said. “So I think there is 
a big emphasis on the setting 
expectations, but I also think 
it’s kind of hard to really 
know what exams are going 
to be like before you go in. 

We 
did 
have 
the 
practice midterm, but even 
still, the criteria of the grading 
scale was not sent out until 
the morning of the exam. So 
yes, that sets expectations, 
but it gives no room to prepare 
accordingly.”
In regard to the course’s 
level 
of 
difficulty, 
Conley 
explained she never wanted to 
make the class unnecessarily 
hard, but instead hoped to 
offer a meaningful 
 challenge 
for her students.
“I 
get 
concerned 
about 
setting the bar too low, to some 
extent you could say if you 
reward people they persist,” 
Conley said. “But if it’s so easy 
that it doesn’t seem meaningful 
then I think people are less 
inclined to value what they’ve 
learned or think it’s important. 
I tend to think we should be 
having students work hard 
because that’s why you come 
to college, it’s supposed to be a 
challenge.”
Conley also addressed the 
challenge of getting some 
students to appreciate the 
academic nature of a class on 
sexuality, which is something 
she feels is not a problem in 
other subjects.
“It’s not like I set out 
to do this, this wasn’t my 
goal, but as I think of it, it 
does serve a purpose with 
this particular topic — an 
argument you wouldn’t have 
to make in students, let’s say, 
in chemistry, that chemistry is 
difficult or that chemistry can 
be intellectually challenging,” 
Conley said.
Public 
Policy 
senior 
Samantha Kennedy is also 
taking the class this semester. 
She felt the low grade average 
might be due to something as 
simple as differing levels of 
incoming 
knowledge 
about 
human sexuality.
“I think that the most 
surprising to me about it 
was just that I assumed a 
lot of people had the same 
knowledge I had going in and 
that’s why it might’ve been 

easy for everyone, but I’m 
realizing people, especially 
freshman or sophomores who 
haven’t taken other women 
studies classes before, might 
not have had exposure to this 
kind of thinking, and this kind 
of open discussion about sex.”
Kennedy 
also 
praised 
the content of the course, 
especially the way that it 
exposes students to facets of 
sexuality which are not usually 
accessible 
in 
a 
classroom 
setting.
“We’ve 
broached 
a 
lot 
of 
topics 
that 
are 
often 
considered 
taboo 
to 
talk 
about in a classroom setting,” 
Kennedy said. “For example, 
we watched porn in class the 
other day, and we had a guest 
lecturer come in and pass 
around sex toys, so it’s been 
fun.”
This 
semester, 
Conley 
redesigned the exam style 
from mostly multiple choice 
to short answer. She hopes 
the change will offer students 
a chance to critically think 
about the concepts in class.
“This semester, I decided 
I wanted to try to engage 
them in a different way that I 
thought might map on better to 
how the course is structured, 
which is asking you to think 
critically about the issues 
that we’re talking about and 
provide their own ideas,” she 
said. “So that’s how the class 
is structured this semester to 
see if we can challenge them 
in a way that’s different than 
what we do in multiple choice 
exams.”
Students 
recently 
experienced one of the new 
exams through a practice 
midterm, which took place last 
week.
While 
the 
LSA 
junior 
appreciated the chance to 
try out the exam without the 
pressure of a grade, she found 
it very difficult to complete in 
the amount of time provided. 
She said the exam consisted 
of 8 essay-style questions and 
about 12 minutes were allotted 

to answer each one.
“We did just have a practice 
midterm, so it was the same 
format as the other exams, but it 
doesn’t actually count towards 
our grades,” she said. “Which 
was a nice opportunity, but it 
ended up being super hard … 
Even though it was open note, 
we had to cite from lectures 
and the book, so that was 
definitely kind of surprising 
for me because that was more 
difficult than I expected.”
Kennedy, however, found 
the exam less difficult and 
noted 
the 
importance 
of 
using critical thinking when 
answering questions.
“To me, it seemed relatively 
easy,” Kennedy said. “A lot of 
it was asking questions that 
sort of encouraged us to do 
our own analysis of things 
we had talked about a lot like 
stigmas 
surrounding 
STD, 
uses and comfort with sex 
toys and things like that. I felt 
that I was able to answer the 
questions pretty well by being 
able to think critically about 
topics we had discussed and 
less because of studying.”
Moving 
forward, 
Conley 
offered suggestions on how 
to succeed in her course. She 
emphasized talking through 
the 
different 
concepts 
in 
class 
and 
really 
thinking 
critically about the course. 
She also encouraged students 
to continue taking her class, 
even if it is more challenging, 
because it has a lot to offer.
“So many people when they 
take the course they really 
appreciate it but they say, ‘I 
gave you low scores because 
it was hard,’… and I feel like 
people should be tougher than 
that,” Conley said. “You got 
into Michigan, you’re smart 
and you’re accomplished and 
you should be able to be up for 
a challenge and not downgrade 
a course because it’s hard – 
that seems not completely fair. 
So I’d like people to appreciate 
that the course has things to 
offer them even if it’s not going 
to be an easy A.”

PSYCH
From Page 1A

or despondent about Brett 
Kavanaugh’s 
confirmation 
to the Supreme Court this 
past 
weekend. 
Richards 
emphasized, 
though, 
the 
importance of perseverance. 
This time in history is one 
of the most exciting for 
activists, she said.
“For folks who want to be 
involved in social change 
and changing the world, for 
good or bad, there’s never 
been a better time to do that,” 
Richards said. 
To 
enact 
this 
change, 
Richards urged students to 
get out into the community 
and register people to vote. In 
response to a question about 
how to talk to people with 
opposite 
beliefs, 
Richards 
said while engaging with the 
other side is important, the 
focus should be on increasing 
the voter base.
“Right now, if the people 
in this room just focused on 
students and other folks who 

are registered to vote but who 
do not vote in midterms, your 
job is done,” Richards said.
Though Richards said her 
primary focus as president 
of Planned Parenthood was 
on affordable health care 
and reproductive rights, she 
noted these issues intersect 
with a broad spectrum of 
others. The people she helped 
during her time at Planned 
Parenthood, Richards said, 
are also struggling to find 
access to basic human needs 
such as clean water or a safe 
community.
“Same folks who are having 
trouble accessing affordable 
health care, are having trouble 
accessing clean water, right 
here in Michigan, or trouble 
accessing a community or a 
school that feels safe for their 
children,” Richards said. “All 
of these things are completely 
connected. So we have to be 
thinking about how do we 
change inequality on all of 
these issues.”
Richards 
started 
her 
career as a labor organizer, 
working across several states 

to 
help 
service 
workers 
with minimum wage and 
no benefits organize unions 
campaigns. 
Many 
of 
the 
people she worked with, she 
said, were not originally a 
part of the labor movement 
and are now doing more 
work than ever before, even 
with stricter laws against 
organizing. 
Richards 
emphasized 
repeatedly 
throughout her talk how this 
type of grassroots work is the 
way to make an impact in the 
government.
“We need to imagine the 
country we want, and then 
work to build it,” Richards 
said. “Because it’s not going 
to come from Washington 
down, it’s going to come from 
the grassroots up.”
LSA junior Emily Nistad, 
a 
member 
of 
College 
Democrats, said what stayed 
with 
her 
after 
Richards’ 
talk was how even by just 
encouraging 
her 
friends 
to vote, she could make a 
change.
“What 
really 
resonates 
with me right now is talking 

to your friends and getting 
them to vote and how to get 
people who are your peers 
interested and excited about 
the elections that are coming 
up,” Nistad said. “I feel like a 
lot of college students have a 
harder time thinking about 
that, but really the focus 
should be on just talking to 
your friends about it and the 
small things you can do.”
In the last election, campus 
voter turned out ranged from 
42.8 percent to 49.71 percent. 
So, according to Richards, 
voting is key. She said while 
acts of protest are important, 
Democrats need to work to 
make a lasting change. 
“Knitting your pussy hat, 
fantastic,” 
Richards 
said. 
“Showing up with hilarious 
signs, drinking wine with 
your 
friends 
and 
writing 
irate 
postcards 
to 
Mitch 
McConnell is good therapy. 
But 
voting 
and 
actually 
building political power that 
lasts is … so that’s kind of 
what I’m interested in. How 
do we take this moment, and 
make it a movement?”

RICHARDS
From Page 1A

an act of courage, regardless of 
place, or age, or circumstance.”
National 
Coming 
Out* 
Week, 
hosted 
by 
the 
University’s 
Spectrum 
Center, runs from Oct. 8 
to 12 and features a queer 
student panel and student 
mixer, among other events. 
The week is centered around 
National Coming Out Day 
on Oct. 11, which began in 
1988 to commemorate the 
1987 
National 
March 
on 
Washington for Lesbian and 
Gay Rights.
Mark 
Chung 
Kwan 
Fan, the assistant director 
for 
engagement 
of 
the 
Spectrum Center, said the 
week’s events focused on 
the intersectionality of the 
LGBTQ 
community. 
Fan 
hoped National Coming Out* 
Week would increase visibility 
for less-known populations, 
such as transgender people of 
color.
“I think that with the 
campus climate or societal 
climate changing, there are 
visibilities for some but not 
for others,” Fan said. “When 
we think about cis white gay 
men, for example, there’s a lot 
of visibility. When we refer to 
the LGBT community, a lot of 
people say ‘gay,’ and that’s just 
one subpopulation.”
Sanlo, who identifies as 
Jewish, also discussed the 

importance of recognizing 
the diversity of the LGBTQ 
community. Citing a piece by 
writer Rita Mae Brown, Sanlo 
said the LGBTQ community 
is “confusing” because its 
members come from every 
possible 
race, 
ethnicity, 
religion and socio-economic 
background.
“There are Jewish LGBT 
people and zen ones, Muslim 
and all the other religious 
possibilities, and some who 
don’t believe in any religion 
at all,” Sanlo said. “What we 
do have in common with one 
another in all our varieties 
is that many people who are 
not lesbian, gay, bisexual or 
transgender think us odd.”
Music, Theatre & Dance 
freshman Syd Brown said 
Sanlo’s lecture made them 
realize how important history 
is to understanding current 
LGBT issues. Brown also 
discussed how using theater 
as a form of activism has 
allowed them to spread their 
message of acceptance and 
understanding 
in 
a 
more 
effective way.
“I’m really interested in the 
creative arts as a whole as a 
medium for exploring social 
justice,” Brown said. “(History) 
is not something that’s taught 
a whole lot, and it’s only talked 
about in our circles. I think 
branching out and reaching 
people who aren’t necessarily 
part of the community and 
bringing our history to them is 
really important.”

LGBTQ
From Page 1A

explained two-factor as a 
combination of what you 
know and what you have.
“When I think of two-
factor, I really think of it as a 
combination of what you know, 
meaning your password, and 
what you have, meaning your 
second factor,” Pendse said. 
“And what you have could be 
your smartphone, or it could 
be a variety of other things.”
Pendse described a number 
of options people can choose 
from for their second factor. 
The most common is to 
receive a push notification on 
your smartphone, but a text 
message, a hardware token 
or a special string of code are 
also available.
Pendse said he believed that 
in the current climate, it is 
necessary to make sure we are 
protecting our accounts from 
phishing attacks and other 
forms of hacking.
“Frankly, 
in 
the 
world 

we live in right now, we are 
constantly 
dealing 
with 
security challenges,” Pendse 
said. “I’m sure not a day goes 
by when you don’t pick up a 
newspaper with an article 
where somebody is hacked.”
DePriest Dockins, assistant 
director of identity and access 
management at ITS, also 
voiced his excitement about 
the potential of two-factor 
authentication on campus.
“We 
are 
really 
excited 
about expanding two-factor 
across the Ann Arbor and 
the 
Dearborn 
campuses,” 
DePriest said. “I think that 
this will go a long way in 
making us more secure.”
Florian Schaub, assistant 
professor at the School of 
Information and College of 
Engineering, said he enabled 
two-factor authentication as 
soon as it became available 
and believes in the push to 
make it mandatory among 
faculty.

DUO
From Page 1A

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