On Jan. 23, U.S. Reps. Debbie
Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Fred
Upton, R-St. Joseph, introduced
emergency legislation called the
Pay Federal Workers Act allowing
states to make unemployment
benefits available for these unpaid
federal workers during government
shutdowns.
The federal shutdown also means
several agencies in Washington,
D.C., have been closed indefinitely.
This has caused a backup in
workflow, especially as it pertains
to the reception of proposals from
lobbyists to legislators.
Cynthia
Wilbanks,
vice
president of government relations
at the University, spends her time
working closely with lobbyists both
locally and in Washington, D.C. She
has found members of Congress are
still present during this situation,
but some agencies are closed.
“The members of Congress are
still quite accessible,” Wilbanks
said. “We have not experienced a
delay or any particular issues with
respect to members of Congress.
Their offices are open. … Some
of the agencies, however, are not
considered essential, so they are
being impacted if they were not
funded in the regular appropriation
cycle.”
Wilbanks recalled one employee
telling her how sometimes there
is no one in certain departments
to receive their project in grant
proposals. She advised her to still
observe deadlines in the hopes
that when the government does
reopen, they recieve responses to
their work as close to on schedule
as possible.
“I was advising one faculty
member, she was working on
a proposal that needed to be
submitted, and her agency —the
agency that she’s submitting it
to — is technically not working,”
Wilbanks said. “And I said, ‘Don’t
miss the deadline,’ because the last
thing you want is not submitting it
on time.”
One of the main priorities in
Wilbanks’ division is research.
The University is the largest
public research university and has
been impacted by the shutdown.
Wilbanks is helping her staff work
around the shutdown, though the
longer the uncertainty continues,
the harder it is for her staff to
continue their projects.
“The shutdown is certainly
problematic — it leaves a lot
of
uncertainty,”
Wilbanks
said. “Most of our researchers
and
administration
itself
are
considering how to bridge the
current situation with(out) the
support that keeps many of these
programs and projects going, but
by now, I’m pretty sure that just
in any course of action that we
might think about the course that
says, ‘Well, we’ll be shut down for
another 30 or 60 days’ will start
to have ripple effects and impact a
number of people at the University.
It’s just hard to know which ones.”
After the boy was found
guilty
and
sentenced
by
a
Black
judge,
Forman
recognized
what
he
saw
as
an
African-American
jurisdiction
incarcerating
their own.
Forman
stated
that
in
D.C. at the time of this
trial, 40 percent of judges
in the Supreme Court were
African-American, the City
Council and police force were
primarily Black, the mayor at
the time was Black, as well as
the chief prosecutor.
“Even
with
all
that
representation
of
local
government, we were doing
the same thing that everyone
else was doing around the
country,”
Forman
said.
“Passing
the
same
laws,
enacting the same policies,
with
the
same
results.
I
told you that one third of
young Black men were under
criminal justice supervision
nationally, at the time in D.C.,
it was one in two.”
Forman spoke about his
research reading constituent
letters
from
African
Americans
to
government
representatives
regarding
drug and crime concerns in
their neighborhoods during
the 1960s and ’70s. Forman
attained
the
letters
from
retired local politicians who
saved these papers.
“The
generation
of
people
that
are
receiving
these letters are the first
generation of Black elected
officials to be elected in any
number in this country since
Reconstruction,”
Forman
said. “All of them remember
the long history of under-
enforcement
and
under-
protection of the law that’s
been a hallmark of the Black
experience in this country
since slavery.”
Forman spoke about the
rise
in
heroin
addiction
in the 1960s and how the
government responded with
increasing the presence of law
enforcement.
According
to
Forman, when David Clarke,
one of two white members
of the original city council,
received concern about heroin
addiction in public spaces,
the problem was sent to the
police
department,
where
law
enforcement
response
trumped
a
public
health
response.
Forman attributed Clarke’s
response to the epidemic as a
“constraint of imagination,”
a
constraint
that
Forman
characterized as stigmas and
stereotypes surrounding the
Black community.
“Because,
of
course,
if
the problem is addicts in
public space, you would send
people
whose
only
tools
are handcuffs, and the only
place they can take you is
the local jail where there is
no treatment,” Forman said.
“And David Clarke wasn’t a
bad guy, but his imagination
was constrained.”
Forman
acknowledged
a
history
of
white-
dominated
governments
which increasingly led to
unfavorable decisions toward
African Americans passed in
the government.
“Institutionalized
white
supremacy
in
government
and law and policy for over 85
percent of American history
and that has an impact that
manifested itself in decisions
up and down the government,
decisions
to
systematically
deprive Black communities
and
Black
citizens
of
resources,” Forman said.
Forman mentioned the past
decisions made in government
which
resulted
in
law
enforcement’s dependency to
respond to disparities present
in the Black community.
“The communities that were
asking for protection, that
these newly elected officials
were elected to represent,
lacked
the
resources
to
protect themselves so they
were unduly reliant on the
state, they were unduly reliant
on police and prosecutors
for protection,” Forman said.
“It’s those tiny decisions that
are individual bricks that
collectively have built up the
prison nation that we have
become.”
Public
Policy
junior
Lena Dreves said she found
Forman’s
analysis
of
the
system as a whole particularly
interesting.
“I think it’s really important
how he really constructively
criticized
each
actor
and
piece in a way where he’s not
putting all the blame on one
piece of the entire system,”
Dreves said.
Forman went on to discuss
the solutions he sees to the
problem of mass incarceration
in the United States, including
action on a local level.
“It is tempting to look at
speeches of presidents and
acts of Congress, but it is just
as crucial to look at acts at
the local level,” Forman said.
“Even though what happens
in Washington gets so much
attention,
actually
what
happens in states and counties
and cities is more important
for
pushing
back
against
mass
incarceration
than
anything that’s happening in
Washington, D.C. And so we
can’t let the media attention
drive our activism and drive
our analysis of the problem or
of the solutions.”
The right to serve on a jury
has been central to the civil
rights struggle in the United
States, and Forman suggested
voting on a jury is crucial to
making change.
“Understand the power you
can have as a juror … Use the
jury box as a site of politics,”
Forman said.
Public Policy senior Drea
Somers said individuals who
work together can play a role
to alter the structure of an
institutionalized system.
“Movement
building
is
super
important,”
Somers
said. “It is a lot of hard
work. … Mass incarceration
is a daunting system, but
with a few good people and
intentional work, we can all
chip away at the structure.”
Forman
concluded
the
lecture with a quote from his
father, an advocate during the
civil rights movement, who
worked with Martin Luther
King Jr.
“What
you
have
to
understand is that we were
fighting knowing that the
change may not take place
in our lifetime. … We were
fighting for 10,000 days from
tomorrow,”
Forman
said.
“And we were fighting for
freedom because fighting for
freedom in an unjust system
is what makes you human.”
The
evening
included
a
presentation,
traditional
dance performances from the
Yemeni Students’ Association
and
the
Iraqi
Student
Association
among
other
events.
Business junior Sikander
Khan, the director of strategy
and
operations
for
Paani,
explained
how
the
event
developed after the various
organizations realized they
all had common challenges
with
sanitation
in
their
respective countries.
“We
found
a
bunch
of
different
cultural
organizations
that
all
struggle
with
the
same
common
struggle,
which
was sanitation conditions,”
Khan said. “So we reached
out to these different orgs
and they were very excited
about working together to
raise awareness about these
humanitarian
crises
going
on and just bringing people
together to experience their
culture.”
The event began with a
presentation about Paani and
how their original mission
of building wells in Pakistan
developed into a wider effort
to make use of all University
resources to tackle the issue.
One of these efforts was
establishing a public health
curriculum
in
Pakistan
to
teach
children
about
sanitation. It also touched
on the intersectionality of
the
sanitation
issues
and
how it impacts countries and
individuals all around the
world — specifically Yemen,
which has a total population
of 28 million people, with
19 million of those people
without access to water.
LSA
freshman
Shanmin
Sultana, director of internal
affairs for Paani, elaborated
on the intersectionality of
the
sanitation
issue
and
discussed
how
Paani’s
mission expanded.
“Initially, we were very
focused
on
Pakistan,
but
we noticed a lot of other
countries, especially in the
Middle East and in South
Asia,
were
also
suffering
from water crises like us,”
Sultana said. “We wanted to
come together and highlight
that this water crisis is not
just central to Pakistan, it’s
a universal crisis in many
countries. We wanted to show
that while we stand primarily
in Pakistan, we stand in
solidarity
with
all
these
countries that are suffering
with
sanitation
related
crises.”
After
the
presentation,
the event began to showcase
traditional dances performed
by
the
Yemeni
Students’
Association and the Iraqi
Student
Association.
The
event also included a “best
dressed” competition, which
allowed attendees to show off
cultural clothing.
LSA
sophomore
Alana
Phillips heard about the event
through a friend. She said
she appreciated the chance
to learn more about different
student groups and cultures.
“I think it’s a good way
for people to learn about
different cultures, different
experiences
that
link
together different parts of the
world that can get overlooked
sometimes,” Phillips said. “It
brings out the good things.”
Khan
also
emphasized
another important aspect of
the event was showcasing
the positive aspects of each
country because many have
been demonized by popular
media. He hoped the event
would offer others the chance
to learn more about different
cultures.
“By
bringing
all
these
different
people
together
who kind have been pushed
to the side culture wise and
human wise, it just gives us
a good opportunity to come
together,” Khan said.
LSA junior Mehrin Ahmed,
Bangladeshi
Students
Association marketing chair,
echoed Khan’s sentiment and
discussed how even though it
is important to acknowledge
the challenges their countries
face, it is also important to
celebrate their beauty.
“We don’t want to dismiss
the issues,” Ahmed said. “We
know they exist and we’re
here to shed light and bring
awareness,
but
also
have
the positive on the sidelines
and show that despite these
challenges,
despite
the
struggles we face, we’re still
here. Our vibrance — it’s
outshining everything.”
Moving forward, Phillips
hopes the University will
support more events hosted
by communities of color and
encourage more students to
attend them.
“They can bring the events
to light,” Phillips said. “Also
encouraging
them
(the
events) to be in spaces where
more kids are going to see
them, where students are
going to see them, because we
get overlooked when they’re
not in spaces you’re going to
see other students here at the
University.”
Ahmed also touched on the
importance of representing
different
communities
on
campus
and
encouraged
ongoing team work.
“We exist,” Ahmed said.
“Not just our struggles and not
just the things we celebrate,
but solely our existence does
not get the traction we’d hope
for on this campus. We’d hope
that a community like this
would bring people together
in a comfortable manner.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, January 25, 2019 — 3
INEQUALITY
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CULTURE
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PE NNY STAMPS SPE AKE R SE RIES
Marisa Morán Jahn speaks at “Unraveling Power Through Art, Play, and Hijnks” for the Penny W. Stamps speaker series at the Michigan Theater
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But
many
pre-professional
organizations
require
intensive
application processes that make
membership extremely exclusive.
Competitive
admissions
are
especially prevalent in business-
oriented,
pre-professional
organizations, including consulting
groups,
investment
firms
and
business fraternities. Applications
often require written supplements,
interviews and multiple rounds of
“cuts,” yielding an extensive process
of new member selection.
A
growing
sentiment
of
frustration has developed among
portions of the student body due to
the highly selective nature of these
clubs, which reject a majority of
initial applicants before welcoming
new members.
LSA
junior
Andrew
Levey
discussed how his own experience
with rejection from a campus
consulting firm led him to create
Alliance Consulting Group, an
organization dedicated to providing
all students with an opportunity to
learn about consulting.
“I tried to become interested
in the consulting industry in the
beginning of my sophomore year,”
Levey said. “I applied to a lot of the
Ross consulting clubs to see if I could
learn about the industry and get
some real-world experience doing
so, and I found that these clubs are
really, really hard to get into if you
don’t know anything about what’s
called a case interview.”
In a case interview, an applicant
is presented with a hypothetical
business
scenario
that
the
interviewee
must
assess
and
propose a solution to. Consulting
clubs often utilize this interview
style to assess potential members.
Levey went on to discuss how
Alliance Consulting combats a
culture of exclusivity by focusing
on new member education and
developing skills for consulting,
including how to complete a
successful case interview.
“I thought it was unfair that
people who don’t know about an
industry are assessed on a learned
skill they don’t know,” Levey said.
“I felt that there needed to be a club
on campus for students who, even if
they don’t know what consulting is,
if they want to become interested in
it, they can have the opportunity to
do so.”
Business junior Thejas Suvarna,
president of APEX Consulting
Group, one of the most selective
consulting groups, stated that in an
effort to provide all students with an
equal opportunity to succeed in the
recruitment process, case interview
workshops are held to explain what
they are and provide applicants
with examples of how to approach
problems. APEX Consulting Group
focuses
on
offering
pro-bono
consulting for local Ann Arbor
businesses and is known to have
selective membership.
“At the end of the day, we really
emphasize that while there’s a
formal name to this case interview,
really it’s just a way to gauge your
thought process and see how you
break down a problem, and those
are inherent traits people will have,”
Suvarna said.
“We do so much work with
clients and we have to manage
those relationships,” Suvarna said.
“Clients give us their personal
information. We have to make sure
that we’re respecting their privacy
and serving them a purpose and
doing a good job, and it’s not feasible
for us to do that well with a club
that’s too big for us to manage.”
Suvarna went on to discuss the
firm’s applicant selection process
is based on anonymity to ensure a
more holistic process at large.
“Our
application
process
is
completely anonymous,” Suvarna
said. “We go through and read the
responses to our essays because, for
us, what is most important is, ‘Did
these people do their homework and
learn about what APEX has to offer?
Is there a legitimate reason that they
want to be in APEX, to contribute to
the community rather than to just
use it as a step to the next thing?’
That all comes first.”
Ed Huebner, assistant director
of Counseling and Psychological
Services, noted the positive aspects
of selective clubs, as they instill a
strong sense of community among
members within a large campus.
“I think the idea goes back to
connection and feeling a sense
of belonging — and that could be
belonging to a group, a club, an
organization or a department,”
Huebner said. “There’s a sense of
identity that can come from feeling
like, ‘This is my group, this is my
connection, these are my people,
and from that there’s a closeness
that we feel.’”
Huebner discussed how the
feeling of belonging contributes
to the mental health of students
on campus, both positively and
negatively.
“For a lot of our students that
come in, this can be a very big
place,” Huebner said. “So that idea
of, ‘Who can I connect with and feel
belonging with?’ on campus ends
up being a really big factor when it
comes to their mental health.”
Norm Bishara, the associate dean
for undergraduate programs at the
Ross School of Business, provided
an email statement on behalf of
the Business School discussing
how success on a college campus
goes beyond admission to any one
organization.
“The clubs provide benefits to
students by creating opportunities
for
leadership
and
real-world
experiences,
offering
fellowship
and a like-minded community, and
creating positive impact,” Bishara
wrote in the email. “… We recognize
that the student leaders of some
clubs have implemented competitive
application processes. While clubs
and student organizations are an
important part of the Michigan
Ross experience, student success is
independent of participation in any
single club or activity on campus.”
Business junior Jack Geiger, vice
president of clubs for the Bachelor
of
Business
Administration
Council,
said
the
competitive
nature of business-oriented clubs
is appropriate, given the rigorous
work students participate in once
admitted.
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
Read more online at
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COMPETITION
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