According to Warren, her
experience as the only female
Democrat in the Michigan
Senate for four years has
made
her
realize
female
perspectives are essential.
“We tend to fight amongst
each other for one seat at the
table, but we need to stop
fighting for that one seat
and
start
demanding
the
five spots at the table that
we deserve,” Warren said.
“Women’s voices at the table
change conversations.”
Other
panelists
said
it
is often difficult to thrive
in
male-dominated
fields.
Warren said she was told
repeatedly she was too young
to run for office when her
male rival was six months
younger than her. Lasinski
said she felt unable to wear
a dress at her former job at
DTE Energy because men
would look up her skirt.
According
to
Lasinski,
strong male allies can be
beneficial but can also fall
short of expectations.
“As I look across right now
sometimes in the political
world, you’ll see that the man
has been a very strong ally
for the woman until he feels
that it is his turn,” Lasinski
said.
According
to
Lasinski,
such microaggressions are
harder to call out because
they are more subtle and
difficult to read directly. She
said that’s why it’s necessary
to
have
more
women
in
positions of power.
Lasinski also said having
women in positions of power
in
the
government
can
change how bills are passed
and
addressed,
especially
bills which impact women.
“Having women in power
is
tremendous,”
Lasinski
said. “There are questions
answered
without
being
asked,
issues
brought
up
and recognized without it
happening at the ninth hour.”
Warren
agreed
having
everyone at the table would
allow for broader and better
legislation. She also pointed
out the problem with labeling
certain
issues
“women’s
issues,”
when
oftentimes
these issues are universal.
She questioned what women’s
issues
exactly
are
and
expressed her unwillingness
to be pigeonholed.
“Every issue we deal with
are all ‘women’s issues,’”
Warren said. “I don’t ever
want to be put into a box
where I’m the only person
who deals with this small
subsection that you think are
‘women’s issues.’”
LSA
sophomore
Emily
Baron said to The Daily after
the event that she attended
the fireside chat because she
wanted to be exposed to a
variety of ideas.
“I like to hear different
people’s
perspective,”
Baron said. “I like to be an
active listener; hearing the
panelists is really inspiring
even if it’s not something I’m
directly interested in.”
LSA junior Sarah Stone,
one of the organizers of
the
panel,
explained
the
inspiration behind the event.
Stone explained the event
was
supposed
to
address
the broader conversation of
female empowerment.
“As
somebody
who
is
not in the political field or
track,
learning
the
skills
that women in high power
fields experience and seeing
how Rebekah (Warren) was
a
chemical
engineer
and
completely changed her path
to pursue her passion and
take a stand and have become
such an influential person;
that’s
something
to
take
away,” Stone said.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 — 3
POLITICS
From Page 1
“Gene
is
a
leading
voice
in
progressive politics in the United
States today.” Barr said. “...He’s been
a hero to me in Democratic politics
and policymaking for a long time.
Gene has this wonderful ability
to pull together deep substantive
knowledge in policy with a great
political sense of how to get things
done and an ability to communicate
with the public and the media
that
enables
policy
to
become
accessible to the public. I think it is
an extraordinary gift to have those
three sets of skills in one human
being.”
In discussing his professional
career, Sperling acknowledged there
is often not a singular, linear line to
success. After serving under Clinton,
Sperling
became
a
writer
and
consultant for the television series
“The West Wing.” Sperling discussed
how the dramatic environmental
change from Washington, D.C. to
Hollywood changed his life for the
better when he met the fellow “The
West Wing” writers for the first
time.
“I sit in the open spot, and I turn
to my left and introduce myself to
the first writer on my left, and that
is how I met my wife,” Sperling said.
“The moral of the story is that the
real West Wing is the best thing in
my professional life, and the fake
West Wing is the best thing in my
personal life.”
Sperling
said
he
admired
Obama and Clinton for running
their administration in a way that
encouraged open discussions.
“I think that feeling of having
everybody around a table and letting
everybody speak up, encouraging an
active debate, not making anyone feel
that they will be punished or hurt
by disagreeing with the president
… I thought that was outstanding,”
Sperling said.
Sperling said he is currently
developing his next book, focused on
how and why economic dignity is a
necessity which must be prioritized.
He defined economic dignity as a
concept that encourages refocusing
the main goal of economics to
address human need and wellbeing
over
economic
indicators.
He
recently wrote an essay on this topic
for the Democracy Journal.
Similarly to his essay, Sperling’s
book will address the three pillars
he has created to define economic
dignity. The first pillar focuses on
how every person should have the
capacity to care for their family
and have a good quality of life. This
includes health care, paid family
leave and a standard for bereavement
leave.
“We need to think about the
importance of life,” Sperling said.
“Being there for your parents, being
there for someone you love that has
cancer, being able to spend time with
your child. Those are maybe some of
the greatest joys in life … And they
are unbelievably economic.”
The second pillar of economic
dignity addresses how the pursuit
of potential and purpose should be
achievable to every person. Sperling
discussed how the United States
is often seen as a place for second
chances, but the way the economy
is structured can prevent economic
second chances.
“Are we a country that the accident
of our birth determines the outcome
of your life?” Sperling questioned.
“This is a central assault on the
dignity of so many people … This is
not lack of value; this is often a lack
of luck.”
The third pillar focuses on how
every person should be able to
participate in the economy while
being respected and not facing
discrimination
and
humiliation.
Sperling
expressed
disgust
for
how people often suffer silently
while they pursue their economic
potential.
“If the price for you pursuing your
potential was sexual harassment, it
is a pretty big damn issue,” Sperling
said.
Public
Policy
junior
Pranav
Govindaraju was excited to hear
such a prominent figure discuss
the concepts he has been studying.
Govindaraju said he resonated with
Sperling’s ideas on economic dignity
and thought these ideas would be
important to implement.
“When we talk about economics …
we reduce things to an equation. We
don’t really think about economics
in terms of its actual social impact,”
Govindaraju
said.
“Looking
at
economics through this lens of
improving the human condition is an
idea I definitely agree with.”
ECONOMICS
From Page 1
At last week’s Senate Advisory
Committee
on
University
Affairs meeting, the assembly
voted to unanimously support
the efforts of the faculty who
wrote the letter and encourage
other faculty to support the
letter.
The
resolution
from
the assembly would have been
considered separate from the
SACUA resolution.
Assembly members debated
the
possible
resolution,
considering
changing
its
language
to
support
the
intentions of the letter. Ron
Larson, College of Engineering
representative, expressed his
concerns with the letter.
“I’m probably very much a
minority on this, but I don’t
support this letter,” Larson
said. “I think the issue is very
complicated. For example, the
definition of carbon neutrality
… To me, we have a committee
that’s looking at this carefully,
and
carbon
neutrality
is
something very hard to define.”
The
assembly
further
discussed
the
March
15
Washtenaw
County
Climate
Strike,
during
which
10
demonstrators were arrested
and given citations at the
Fleming
Administration
Building for trespassing after a
7.5 hour sit-in. Emily Campbell,
school
of
information
representative, said she thought
the assembly should encourage
the police department to not
charge the demonstrators.
Joy Beatty, U-M Dearborn
representative
and
Senate
Assembly vice chair, said she
met with University President
Mark Schlissel during the sit-
in. She explained it did not
sound like the demonstrators
would be charged.
“Schlissel said he had had
experiences at Berkeley where
they didn’t make people leave,”
Beatty said. “I guess he had
learned from that experience
that you have to get people out
of the building.”
After
discussing
their
thoughts on the letter and
possibly
amending
the
resolution,
the
assembly
made the decision to table it,
although they have no meetings
remaining for the duration of
the school year.
In addition to tabling the
resolution,
the
assembly
listened to a presentation by
Runge. In his presentation,
Runge focused on the future
of
the
University
Medical
School and health care. He
said the main areas of focus
for the Medical School include
research, education and clinical
care, as well as emphasizing the
importance of learning through
discovery science.
“Many important advances
in medicine have come from
discovery
science,”
Runge
said. “They weren’t necessarily
targeted science … Discovery
science today is driven by
really some top investigators
in a wide variety of fields that
someone who’s doing research
as a graduate student, (if) they
feel like their focus is on cancer,
that research may also turn out
to be important in neurological
diseases or vascular diseases or
other areas.”
Runge
also
discussed
increasing the comfort, value
of care and cost of care of
University
health
systems,
highlighting two new Brighton
and Ann Arbor health care
locations. He said the medical
system is working to improve
and become a better institution.
“We
want
to
have
an
accountable culture, we want to
have a positive culture,” Runge
said. “We want to have a culture
that advocates for patients,
advocates for respect, advocates
for anything that makes us
more diverse, more inclusive
and recognize that we all have
well-being issues. A big issue
in medicine is a phenomenon
called burnout … and that has to
do with relieving the stress that
we all render and how we can
most effectively prevent those.”
Following
Runge’s
presentation,
assembly
members asked Runge questions
regarding
his
presentation.
Campbell said she has been
volunteering at the hospital
for 11 years. She expressed
support for the ability to ensure
the well-being of doctors and
questioned
how
to
support
them.
“I’m very impressed with the
focus on the patient and family
care … I’m just really impressed
with that focus on making sure
that our doctors are people, too,”
Campbell said. “But what I’m
worried about is making sure
that we’re asking people to be
incredibly expert at something
and also be human. How do we
support doctors in that way and
make sure they’re getting the
self-care they need?”
At the conclusion of the
meeting,
Neil
Marsh
made
closing remarks as the outgoing
Senate Assembly chair.
“One
of
my
personal
motivations for taking on this
responsibility of chair in the
Senate has been that I get to
interact with a whole bunch
of smart, interesting people
where if I had just stayed in
my department in chemistry,
I’d never ever meet and never
ever know,” Marsh said. “I
think that’s a valuable thing,
and I think the opportunity to
interact with your colleagues
who you wouldn’t be otherwise
is a valuable reason for being on
Senate Assembly.”
SENATE
From Page 1
We need to stop
fighting for that
one seat and
demand the five
spots at the table
we deserve
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
“They
were
unarmed
and
peaceful and posed no threat to
anyone. Yet they were killed. They
were killed because as an ethnic
minority, they looked different.
They were killed because, as a
religious minority, they prayed
differently.”
There was then a moment of
silence for the lives lost as a result of
the Quetta attack.
The speakers at the event
included
ISA
Social
Co-chair
Humza Hemani, LSA junior, who
helped organize the event, as well
as MSA Vice President of External
Affairs Zoha Qureshi, a Public
Policy senior.
The third speaker, PSA Advocacy
Chair Alezeh Mumtaz, an LSA
freshman, spoke about the value of
unity and compassion, especially
during the times of these attacks.
“I’m not here to say a lot of big
words, or spout about violence or
this or that,” Mumtaz said. “I’m
not here to share facts, I’m here to
do what this vigil was created for:
show and emphasize solidarity.
All we need to know is that love
and community are the things that
matter, and the things that stand.
So, we stand here today, in support
of the innocent; we are gathered
here, not on the basis of religion
… but as believers of the power of
good.”
In
Qureshi’s
speech,
she
spoke about how students at the
University of Michigan should
respond to these types of attacks
— especially with the advantages
students have.
“We should do all we can to
support as college students at the
University of Michigan with the
privileges we hold and the power
structures we live in,” Qureshi
said. “Whether it be donating to
a humanitarian cause, spreading
awareness, standing in solidarity,
spreading advocacy or simply
offering a hand to a brother or sister
who needs our support — we must
come together.”
Qureshi
further
highlighted
her experience at the vigil for
New Zealand, and how the false
active shooter threats made her
reflect on those around the world
who face these threats and attacks
frequently impact.
“Just about a month ago, there
was a vigil for New Zealand, and I
remember being there and present
and listening and mourning, but
then moments later, running for my
life in what I thought was an active
shooter situation,” Qureshi said. “I
am thankful that my peers and I
are safe, but I remind myself that
millions of people in this world do
not have that luxury.”
Rizvi then opened the floor to
those attending the vigil, offering
them an opportunity to give
speeches and express themselves
at the ceremony. Several students
and community members recited
poetry in Urdu, the national
language of Pakistan, and spoke
about how they felt the attack
impacted their lives and the lives of
people they know.
Later in the event, Rizvi also
highlighted the necessity for media
coverage on the Quetta attack,
and condemned the Pakistani
government for failing to properly
address the bombing.
“The lack of coverage of this
event by the Pakistani mainstream
media is absolutely unacceptable,”
Rizvi said. “People are going to
find out about this horrifying event
one way or another, and when
they do, they will not be happy.
They will also not be happy when
they find out that the government
of Pakistan failed to address the
issue, and offered neither adequate
condolences, nor met with the
people affected.”
After the event, Hemani spoke
to The Daily about how he hoped
those who attended the event
gained more knowledge about
the Hazara and recognized how
their situation reflects of a larger
problem of minority rights.
“I hope the attendees learned
a little about the Hazara and their
story,” Hemani said. “I hope they
also saw this not just as an issue for
Pakistan, but see it as part of a larger
global issue of minority rights, and
I tried to help push the focus of the
event towards that minority rights
in general.”
Over the past several days,
about 200 Hazaras in Quetta and
50 Hazaras in Karachi have been
protesting and taking part in sit-ins
as a result of the attack. Hemani
believes the Hazaras are doing
what they can to fight for the rights,
but the power their community
has alone is not enough to make an
effective difference.
“I think the sit-in protests are
effectively the only tool the Hazara
have left to them,” Hemani said.
“There is power in seeing an entire
community come together to say
something is wrong, but it hasn’t
brought real change yet, and that’s
why we need non-Hazaras to also
speak out for them, because at the
end of the day, the Hazaras don’t
have a lot of political influence.”
VIGIL
From Page 1
Additionally, Spin will pay the
city of Ann Arbor $5,000 for this
license and $1 per day per scooter,
for a total of $18,400. This is
based on having 200 scooters
operating in the city for three
months. After the three-month
period, the city must adopt an
ordinance to extend or terminate
the license.
While many students used
Bird scooter charging positions
as a form of revenue, Spin also has
applications to become chargers.
An Ann Arbor position has not
been placed on their website as of
April 15.
The resolution to enter into
the
three-month
contract
with Spin passed unanimously
among councilmembers with no
discussion.
The second transportation-
related
resolution
confirmed
funds for the first two-way
protected bike lane in Michigan
to start construction in May. The
protected bike lane, which will
include barriers to protect bikers
from passing cars, is a $1,329,964
project to be built on William
Street stretching from Fourth
Street to State Street.
The resolution is the first
of its kind in the state. City
Administrator
Howard
Lazarus says the investment is
worthwhile because the Ann
Arbor Downtown Development
Authority — the authority that
will construct this project — will
split construction costs with
the city. The DDA will cover 65
percent of concrete resurfacing
payment.
In addition to the construction
cost reduction, Lazarus says the
progress it brings for the city is
also important to consider.
“This does benefit the city
as well,” Lazarus said. “I think
there’s a tremendous amount of
prestige, as we are one of the most
forward-looking cities in many
areas in Michigan. This would
be the first two-way protected
cycle traffic lane in the state of
Michigan.”
This resolution was raised
as City Council acknowledged
many residents bike around the
city. There have also been alleged
concerns from the University that
too many bikes cut through the
Diag, causing walking-pedestrian
concern. The enhanced road
safety for bicyclists provided
by the protected lane is also an
attempt to divert the bike traffic
from the Diag.
Councilmember Julie Grand,
D-Ward 3, said she bikes around
Ann Arbor herself and does
not feel safe with the current
provisions for bikers on streets.
“I work in Angell Hall and
there are times where I’ll walk
and leave my bike there because
I don’t feel as comfortable biking
from campus to City Hall,”
Grand said. “Everyone does ride
their bikes. I think this is a great
example of a city-University
partnership and making our city
safer.”
CITY
From Page 1