 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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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

