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. 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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