The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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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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