Gwen Tessier, University alum
and former Student Adminis-
trative Assistant Intermedi-
ate for the Inter-university
Consortium for Political and
Social Research, alleges her
employment was terminated
as a result of reporting sexual
harassment at the University
of Michigan.
Tessier worked for the Uni-
versity from 1998-2004 and in
ICPSR specifically from 2009-
2015. ICPSR is an international
research consortium providing
training on data access, analy-
sis and curation for social sci-
ence research.
She filed a complaint with the
University’s Office of Institu-
tional Equity on July 2, 2015
regarding the continued sexual
harassment by her supervisor,
Research Area Specialist Inter
Dieter Burrell.
Fitzgerald confirmed Burrell
is still employed at the Univer-
sity. Burrell did not respond
to multiple requests for com-
ment.
Tessier’s employment was
terminated May 15, 2015. Uni-
versity
spokesperson
Rick
Fitzgerald said Tessier’s posi-
tion was terminated due to fi-
nancial concerns.
“Gwen Tessier’s position at
ICPSR was one of six positions
eliminated in 2015 as part of a
reduction-in-force,
cost-cut-
ting effort at ICPSR,” Fitzger-
ald wrote in a statement to The
Daily.
Ramaswami Mahalingam,
director of the University’s
Barger Leadership Institute,
spoke to students Wednes-
day night about the role of
global feminists in leadership.
Mahalingam explained differ-
ent theories of leadership to
the group, switching between
his lecture and conversation
with the group.
Mahalingam
presented
to advanced fellows in a BLI
pilot cohort called the Mind-
ful Leader Program. In order
to become involved with the
BLI, all members enroll in
a one-credit leadership lab.
Upon completion, they are
afforded the opportunity to
become BLI Leadership Fel-
lows. Following an initial fel-
lowship, students are given
the option to either coordinate
a capstone project or take on
more advanced fellowships.
Compared to the nearly 200
students pursuing a capstone
project, this mindful leader-
ship cohort of only six students
is much more specialized
and intimate. Business junior
Kevin Liu is one of the mind-
ful leadership fellows and was
in a different advanced BLI
fellowship last year. He said
the mindful leadership pro-
gram is different from any of
his prior experience.
“It’s about journaling and
reflection and generally being
mindful of our action,” Liu
said. “This is a very small
cohort because it’s a pilot pro-
gram. This is a lot more time
commitment.”
Mahalingam is an assign-
ment contributor at the Global
Feminisms Project, a digital
archive of personal narratives
chronicling the experiences
of feminists in seven different
countries across the world.
According to Abigail Stewart,
co-director of the Global Fem-
inism Project and professor of
psychology and women’s stud-
ies at the University, said the
project’s two main goals are to
aid teaching and research.
“The teaching uses and the
research uses both have been
very broad,” Stewart said. “So
there’s no disciplinary limit
to the different kinds of uses
they can be put to.”
Following
Mahalingam’s
presentation, the group delved
into a discussion of the con-
tent from the archives.
Mahalingam felt it was
important for students to
look beyond the pre-format-
ted images of leadership that
are taught in a classroom.
He encouraged the cohort to
challenge the ideas they previ-
ously held about what a good
leader looks like.
Abigail Stewart, director of
the Global Feminism project
and professor of psychology
and women’s studies, said that
the ideas presented change
the way society thinks about
leadership.
The
Carceral
State
Project hosted a symposium
Wednesday
night
in
the
Hatcher
Graduate
Library
to discuss the flaws of the
prison
experience
and
the
justice
system.
The
symposium, which drew a
crowd of over 100 attendees,
is the third installation out of
six events that will take place
this academic year.
The Carceral State Project
is a University of Michigan
program
that
encourages
collaboration
between
faculty,
students
and
the
community in order to learn
about
and
advocate
for
criminal justice reform.
Michigan Mellon Fellow
Nora Krinitsky, a host of
the event, said the goal of
the symposium was to allow
students
and
community
members to listen to people
who have been incarcerated
themselves or have a direct
tie to the justice system.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 50
©2018 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SAM SMALL
Daily Staff Reporter
Barger Leadership Institute Fellows
undergo global feminism case study
Panel discusses the role of feminism in teaching leadership skills worldwide
Panel talks
cognitive
health in
carceral
programs
CAMPUS LIFE
State Project symposium
reflects on mental wellness
EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
See CSG, Page 3
Follow The Daily on
Instagram:
@michigandaily
See PANEL, Page 3
CSG posts
affordable
housing
survey for
students
See ICPSR, Page 3A
Survey grades various
property managers in A2
Central Student Govern-
ment released a housing
survey
Tuesday
evening
in an effort to help allevi-
ate the struggle of finding
affordable off-campus hous-
ing. Over 2,000 students
responded to the initial sur-
vey sent out and about 700
responding students fit the
criterion of those living off-
campus within the 2017-2018
academic year.
The idea for the survey
was first conceived last year
during the winter 2018 CSG
campaign, when CSG party
MVision created a portal
where students could submit
campaign ideas.
Public Policy senior Lau-
ren Schandevel, co-founder
of the Michigan Affordabil-
ity and Advocacy Coalition,
responded with the idea for
a landlord report card.
“I actually got the idea
from the last CSG assem-
bly,” Schandevel said. “I met
with them after their afford-
ability guide came out and
Thursday, January 17, 2019
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
“What else can a person do?”
Former ICPSR employee alleges wrongful termination after reporting harassment
RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
Daily News Editor
Interim President of
Michigan
State
Uni-
versity John Engler re-
signed Wednesday night
in an 11-page letter to the
Board of Trustees just
hours after the board
set a special meeting for
Thursday with the intent
to fire him.
In the letter, Engler
said it was an honor to
serve the University.
“In compliance with
your request that I re-
sign & in order to ensure
an orderly transition to
my interim successor, I
hereby resign the office
of President of Michigan
State University effective
9 am, Wednesday, Janu-
ary 23.” The letter read,
“It has been an honor to
serve my beloved univer-
sity.”
Engler took over for
former
President
Lou
Anna Simon on January
30, 2018 in the wake of
controversy surrounding
Simon’s handling of alle-
gations regarding Larry
Nassar. Recently, Engler
has been under criticism
after he made comments
to The Detroit News on
Friday stating that Nas-
sar victims are enjoying
the spotlight.
“You’ve got people,
they are hanging on and
this has been … there are
a lot of people who are
touched by this, survi-
vors who haven’t been
in the spotlight,” Engler
said. “In some ways they
have been able to deal
with this better than the
ones who’ve been in the
spotlight who are still
enjoying that moment
at times, you know, the
awards and recognition.
And it’s ending. It’s al-
most done.”
A tweet from Brian
Mosallam, a member of
the MSU Board of Trust-
ees, said the resignation
of Engler is an end to a
“reign of terror.”
Engler resigns
from MSU
under threat
of termination
Eleven page resignation comes after
commets about Nassar survivors
ATTICUS RAASCH
Daily Staff Reporter
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Psychology Professor Dr. Ram Mahalingam speaks to the Mindful Leader Program on the importance of servant leadership at the Barger Institute
Wednesday night.
DESIGN BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
MELANIE TAYLOR
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more online at
michigandaily.com