Burns said, in her experience,
she has never seen such a concrete
commitment
asserted
at
a
conference. She said conferences
are usually a place for speakers
to voice their opinions to an
understanding audience rather
than roll out plans.
“This
was
a
pretty
unprecedented
event,”
Burns
said. “It says a lot about her
commitment
to
reproductive
rights and protecting women in
the state of Michigan.”
Kaylee Tegethoff, Michigan’s
state captain for Students for
Life of America, serves as the
spokesperson for the state’s pro-
life student advocates. She believes
Nessel’s announcement does little
to protect Michiganders.
In an interview with The
Daily, Tegethoff said Nessel’s
position on abortion prosecution
would only serve to confuse local
procedure across the state.
“Dana Nessel is our state’s
chief law enforcement officer, and
when she picks and chooses what
laws she wants to enforce, I think
that’s a problem,” Tegethoff said.
“All Michigan citizens should be
concerned about that position,
whether you’re young or old, in
college or out of college.”
In the event, Roe v. Wade is
overturned federally, the legal
issue of abortion is delegated to
individual states.
“Michigan has a law on the
books right now that would ban
abortion if Roe v. Wade were
overturned,” Tegethoff said. “I
think whether you agree with the
law or don’t agree with the law,
the attorney general’s job is to
enforce the law.”
Luescher said Nessel received
the loudest cheers when she
justified her decision to selectively
enforce state laws by citing her
predecessor’s,
Bill
Schuette’s,
choice not to enforce a “single”
environmental
protection
provision over the course of his
incumbency.
“I think she knows what she’s
saying, and she’s not saying it just
to be inflammatory,” Burns said.
“She’s not saying it just to make a
stance. She’s saying it because she
really is convicted by it and she
wants to hold to it.”
Luescher said she sees the
attorney general’s announcement
as an assurance of security for
women in Michigan that their
rights will not spontaneously
disappear if Roe v. Wade is
overturned.
“There is this sense that a lot
of people had that suddenly this
giant turn in the tide occurred,”
Luescher said. “Suddenly a lot of
people are against reproductive
justice or abortion rights and
what the attorney general and the
whole conference was saying was
that ‘no, there are a lot of people
supporting this and proactively
working on it.’”
Burns
believes
Nessel’s
announcement positions her well
for re-election because her young
voters
strongly
support
this
portion of her platform.
“At the University of Michigan,
we have a large community that
supports Students for Choice
and
supports
reproductive
rights, broadly speaking,” Burns
said. “The younger generation
is more politically favorable of
these policies and Dana Nessel’s
stances. I also would say that if
we are the ones that are going out
to vote in the next election, then I
think this is a favorable thing for
Dana to say because it speaks to
our interest and it speaks to our
concerns as young people.”
Tegethoff disagrees. She said
there are more pro-life young
adults than there have been since
the Roe v. Wade ruling. Tegethoff
believes these young advocates
will eventually eliminate Roe v.
Wade.
“Most
people
are
now
not saying ‘if Roe v. Wade is
overturned,’”
Tegethoff
said.
“It’s now ‘when Roe v. Wade is
overturned.’ The when and how of
that has yet to be determined, but
we do have a pro-life majority on
the Supreme Court, and I do think
that in the next few years, Roe v.
Wade is likely to be overturned.”
Tegethoff said she hopes that,
along with a change in abortion
law, the United States will alter
Americans’
perspective
on
abortion in general.
“Ultimately, I also hope to see
that hearts and minds would
change,” Tegethoff said. “I don’t
just want abortion to be illegal. I
want abortion to be unthinkable.
I want women to realize that the
unborn is a human being that has
value and that we should respect
that life.”
Tegethoff said she hopes the
law will soon align with her
morals and ethics, strengthening
the respect Americans have for its
authority.
“If we all have disrespect for
the law, just think about what
the result is,” Tegethoff said.
“That’s kind of scary. Pro-life or
pro-choice, we can all agree that
respect and adherence to the law
is important.”
Burns worries that even if the
law changes, it will not be adhered
to by communities privileged
enough to ignore it.
“This is not really a big
concern for a lot of students at the
University of Michigan because
the University is filled with a
lot of upper middle-class white
students who will always have
access to reproductive rights
and health care, whether or not
it’s criminalized,” Burns said.
“That’s not to say that it will be
easy moving forward if Roe is
overturned, but it is to say that the
people that are truly at risk here
are
low-income,
marginalized
communities.”
Luescher said Nessel’s plan
will
benefit
marginalized
communities such as people of
color or low-income.
“Not only is (Nessel’s plan)
going to help all women, but it’s
going to make sure that low-
income women who are already
burdened aren’t going to be
burdened further by legislative
maneuvers that are done, I think,
quite carelessly,” Luescher said.
Luescher, Burns and Tegethoff
all agree the state legislature will
lead the way in how abortion law
is implemented in Michigan.
“Whether Roe v. Wade is
overturned in the next few years
or further on down the road,
that’s really just the start of the
E ARTH DAY ON CAMPUS
Design by KATHRYN HALVERSON
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327
www.michigandaily.com
ARTS SECTION
arts@michigandaily.com
SPORTS SECTION
sports@michigandaily.com
ADVERTISING
dailydisplay@gmail.com
NEWS TIPS
news@michigandaily.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
EDITORIAL PAGE
opinion@michigandaily.com
TOMMY DYE
Business Manager
734-418-4115 ext. 1241
tomedye@michigandaily.com
MAYA GOLDMAN
Editor in Chief
734-418-4115 ext. 1251
mayagold@michigandaily.com
PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION
photo@michigandaily.com
NEWSROOM
734-418-4115 opt. 3
CORRECTIONS
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the
fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available
free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for
$2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275.
University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions
FINNTAN STORER
Managing Editor
frstorer@michigandaily.com
GRACE KAY and ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah
Graham, Amara Shaikh
Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Alex Harring, Danielle Pasekoff,
Atticus Raasch, Ben Rosenfeld, Samantha Small, Emma Stein, Zayna Syed, Callie
JOEL DANILEWITZ and MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA
Editorial Page Editors
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Senior Opinion Editors: Emily Huhman, Alexander Satola, Elias Khoury,
MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS
JACK BRANDON and ARYA NAIDU
Senior Arts Editors: Clara Scott, Emma Chang, Cassandra Mansuetti, Sam
antha Della Fera, Trina Pal
Arts Beat Editors: Verity Sturm, Sayan Ghosh, Mike Watkins, Ally Owens,
ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN
ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN
Managing Design Editors
design@michigandaily.com
Senior Design Editor: Willa Hua
ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA
Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors
MADELINE TURNER and MIRIAM FRANCISCO
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com
CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO
Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot,
NOAH TAPPEN
Senior Video Editors: Jillian Drzinski, Aarthi Janakiraman
CARLY RYAN and NA’KIA CHANNEY
Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Samuel So, Ana Maria
Sanchez-Castillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan
Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Grace Cho, Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy,
CARRINGTON TUBMAN and MADALASA CHAUDHARI
Managing Social Media Editors
Business Staff
CAMERON COANE
Sales Manager
ROBERT WAGMAN
Marketing Consulting Manager
ZELJKO KOSPIC
Special Projects Manager
ANITA MICHAUD
Brand Manager
Senior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Annie Klusendorf
Assistant Photo Editors: Katelyn Mulcahy, Miles Macklin, Emma Richter, Hannah
Senior Sports Editors: Mark Calcagno, Jake Shames, Matthew Kennedy, Anna
Marcus, Paige Voeffray, Avi Sholkoff
Assistant Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Tien Le, Rian Ratnavale, Bennett
ADRIANNA KUSMIERCZYK
CATHERINE NOUHAN and JOHN FABIAN
Managing Podcast Editors
CB IN DA HOUSE
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
The Climate Action Movement recognized Earth Day by providing free native Tulip Poplar treets to students, as well as environmental facts, on the Diag Monday after-
noon.
2 — Tuesday, April 23, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
ABORTION
From Page 1
In an email to The Daily,
Gonzalez
denied
the
email
existed
and
said
she was “amazed at how
many invented facts are
circulating.”
Gonzalez
said
LEO’s
information
was
“not
accurate,” referring press
inquiries
to
David
Gier,
dean of SMTD.
Speaking
on
behalf
of
Gier, University spokesman
Rick Fitzgerald wrote, in an
email interview with The
Daily, only the dean could
represent the SMTD.
“The
dean
has
been
absolutely clear that SMTD
has not and will not make
personnel decisions as a
result of LEO’s success at the
bargaining table,” Fitzgerald
wrote. “SMTD is, however,
conducting
a
review
of
its
entire
instructional
workforce,
including
all
tenured, tenure-track and
clinical faculty, lecturers
and
graduate
student
instructors.
This
review
will include an examination
of teaching loads and course
enrollment.”
Fitzgerald explained this
review was “a normal part
of what any school and
college on our campus does
on a regular basis,” adding
SMTD and the University
would follow the process
outlined in the LEO contract
if any workload changes
would impact lecturers.
According to LEO, Biza,
a lecturer who has taught
Congolese
dance
at
the
University for more than
30 years, would be facing
a two-thirds reduction in
his course load. Both Beck
and Biza are “long-serving”
lecturers,
a
category
defined by the 2018 contract
as someone who has been a
lecturer for at least 12 years.
LEO
Vice
President
Kirsten Herold said despite
Beck and Biza’s seniority,
the union could not do
much to fight any personnel
decisions made by SMTD.
“We
can’t
tell
the
employer, you know, who
teaches
what
classes,”
Herold said. “If they decide
they want to give a class
that a lecturer has taught to
a graduate student, they can
do it. If they want to give
it to a tenure-track faculty
member, they can do it.”
At
a
performance
put
on by students in Biza’s
class
at
the
School
of
Music, Theatre & Dance
on Saturday, about a dozen
LEO members distributed
fliers protesting the alleged
cuts to Beck’s and Biza’s
teaching assignments.
LSA
senior
Zi
Yang
performed at a showcase.
She
said
the
class
was
appreciative of Biza and his
teaching.
“He’s been a really great
lecturer
and
we
really
appreciated his class,” Yang
said. “We hope that he
can teach for as long as he
wants to because he’s in his
sixties, but he has so much
energy.
Everyone
thinks
he’s 40.”
Biza said SMTD had not
informed him of reductions
to his scheduled course
load, but that Beck told
him. He said that while he
had
not
heard
anything
from the Music, Theatre &
Dance School in regard to
the reductions, he was still
concerned.
“This is the only job I
have,” Biza said. “I’m a part-
time teacher and I don’t
get those many hours, so if
they cut that, that means I
have to look for some other
job, I have to look for some
other job or do something
to support my family.”
Beck said she had not
been given official word
from SMTD. She said the
school would have to inform
her of its decision by April
30 — the day her contract
ends.
Herold
said
she
was
doubtful of claims from
SMTD that the school had
not yet reached a final
decision. She said if there
was misinformation, it was
because SMTD “has given
us
different
information
every time we talked to
them.”
“Basically they haven’t
given
us
any
answers
about why it’s her and not
less
senior,
less
highly
paid people, none of that,”
Herold said. “They’re just
stonewalling,
so
that’s
why we’re just extremely
frustrated at this point. I
really think, you know, we
were told they haven’t made
up the real final decision
yet. I don’t know anybody
in the school believes that …
They’re just trying to wait
until students are gone and
then to make the suddenly
miraculously make the final
decision to lay them off.”
Biza said he had not
reached out to SMTD about
the course load reduction,
but added he did not feel
the responsibility was on
him to do so.
“If you have a boss, they
will tell you what’s going
on usually in a professional
way — you call a meeting
and you explain in detail
what’s
going
on,”
Biza
said. “(Then) I can express
myself,
we
can
have
a
conversation … This is a
big thing happening, so you
can’t just send an email
to somebody. You need to
come sit down and give (an)
explanation.”
LEO
From Page 1