In an email, University
spokeswoman
Kim
Broekhuizen
said
the
University
does
not
let
attorneys
conduct
cross-
examination for accessibility
reasons.
“It’s important to note, Doe
v. Baum calls for a student
or their advisor to conduct
the
cross-examination,”
Broekhuizen
wrote.
“Questioning
by
personal
advisors - often attorneys -
is not allowed at U-M out of
concern that not all students
would
be
able
to
afford
counsel.”
However, Kitaba said if the
University noticed access to a
personal adviser was an issue
for students, then there should
be more administrative efforts
in place to help students obtain
representation.
“If the school has identified
that there is a need for students
to have equal representation in
these proceedings, then the
school should offer appointed
reps for students who are
unable to hire their own
attorney,” Kitaba said. “The
alternative to then require
that students do their own
cross-examination
because
they can’t afford attorneys is
just simply uncalled for and
unnecessary.”
LSA
sophomore
Emma
Sandberg
is
a
founding
member of former student
group Jane Roe — the group
that had contacted the ACLU
of
Michigan
in
February
regarding
the
University’s
interim Title IX policy.
“I’m glad that the ACLU is
stepping forward to make it
very clear that the majority of
people would feel that this is
traumatizing and that this is
a violation of civil rights and
human rights,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg said she feels
it was irresponsible for the
University to pursue a policy
that makes students conduct
cross-examinations directly..
“That is something that
I
consider
to
be
cruel,”
Sandberg
said.
“That
is
not something that is done
in court. It astonishes me
that administrators at the
University somehow decided
to make the policy this way.
It’s unimaginable to me that
they feel that this is the best
solution.”
Broekhuizen said moving
forward, the University will
continue efforts to develop the
policy further.
“We continue to evaluate
the effectiveness of the interim
policy through feedback from
the
student
community,”
Broekhuizen
wrote.
“U-M
also is working to develop an
umbrella policy for students,
faculty and staff and separate
procedures
for
students
and employees, all of which
will undergo vetting by our
community.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, September 6, 2019 — 3A
DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily
Aerospace engineering professor Kenneth Powell shares various examples of his recent social science research as part of the AE Chair’s Distinguished Seminar Series in the
Francios-Xavier Bagnoud Building Thursday afternoon.
AE ROS PACE E NGINE E RING
DOCUMENTARY
From Page 1A
“I mean that broadly in the
sense of latching on to an idea.
I think a lot of us have ideas,
and we think ‘oh, somebody
should do that.’ What I mean
by entrepreneurial spirit is, ‘no
really, somebody should do that
— I should do that. What would
it take to actually do that?’”
Marten, who is currently
conducting
research
at
a
sexual assault clinic housed
in Addis Ababa’s Menelik II
Hospital, chose to investigate
the legal barriers to justice for
survivors of sexual violence for
her Wallenberg proposal. In
an interview with The Daily,
she noted how this fellowship
aligned
closely
with
her
interests because it allowed
her to adapt her project in ways
she may not have been able
to with other scholarships or
fellowships.
“The policy that I’ve had
for myself is just basically to
say ‘yes’ to anything that is
offered to me,” Marten said.
“It’s been such an honor to have
that flexibility, and I’ve also
been able to really follow my
curiosity. So, when my research
strayed a little bit from our
original proposal, I felt more
at liberty to follow that path
than maybe if I had tried to do
a Fulbright.”
Marten spent the summer
of 2018 in Addis Ababa doing
Fulbright research in the same
field and chose to return to
her project after receiving the
Wallenberg Fellowship. Dyson
said even though Marten’s
research project was detailed
and planned out well before
the
fellowship’s
application
deadline, her proposal had
to be tweaked in order to
fit
specifically
with
the
Wallenberg mission.
“The key to this is that
people should be applying to
multiple scholarships, but they
can’t just copy and paste from
one opportunity to the other,”
Dyson said. “You really have to
understand (the scholarship).
That was most of the work we
did with Carly, it was ‘how do
we take an existing Fulbright
proposal and make this into a
Wallenberg proposal that really
understands
Wallenberg’s
story?’”
The Wallenberg Fellowship
and accompanying Wallenberg
Medal are named after Raoul
Wallenberg, a University alum
and Swedish diplomat who
spent much of his adult life
in Budapest working to save
the last remaining Hungarian
Jews from persecution during
World War II. Wallenberg
created a system of safe-houses
in Budapest and distributed
falsified Swedish visas and
passports to Jews at risk of
being sent to the concentration
camps of Eastern Europe. In
early 1945, as the war drew to a
close, Wallenberg was arrested
by Soviet forces and died in
Moscow’s
Lubyanka
Prison
two years later.
John Godfrey, assistant dean
for
international
education
at Rackham Graduate School
and chair of the Wallenberg
Committee, said Wallenberg’s
legacy as a humanitarian and
University alum pushed him to
establish a fellowship dedicated
to serving the public good.
“In Europe, he is recognized
as being one of the great heroes
of the Second World War,”
Godfrey said. “This fellowship
was established to bring his
examples to the attention of
our students, and to inspire
them, and to encourage them to
embrace his view of life, which
was to be adventuresome, to
be willing to go out and see the
world close up, to experience
communities
where
people
live, to not be intimidated
by language barriers but to
overcome them and to embrace
humane values in the best and
broadest sense.”
Marten, who is working
alongside a team of researchers
in the clinic, said she hoped her
research would both contribute
meaningfully to the academic
field and help survivors of
sexual assault in Ethiopia seek
out some form of justice. She
noted how the established body
of work in her area of study
often does not include data
from Ethiopia, making it an
important place to conduct this
research.
“We want to be able to
contribute to the literature
in this field,” Marten said.
“There’s a lot of sexual violence
literature when you look at the
larger international scope, but
if you stick to Ethiopia, the
literature, especially coming
out of medical clinic spaces,
is pretty minimal. We want
to be able to contribute to that
research community.”
ACLU
From Page 1A
FELLOWSHIP
From Page 1A
“The
reasons
for
actions
being taken depends on a couple
different things, and one is
what — and the word we use in
the policy is — proclaiment or
claimant, what they want to see
happen, and sometimes that’s
an investigation and sometimes
that’s an adaptable resolution
and sometimes that’s no action
from the University,” Seney said.
LSA freshman Aaron Lev is
part of the Michigan Community
Scholars Program and attended
the event as a requirement for
his program. Lev said based on
the panel discussion, he does
not think there has been much
improvement in the handling of
sexual assault claims since the
movie came out in 2015.
“It didn’t seem like that much
has really changed since the
movie happened,” Lev said.
“That was my big takeaway.”
Colohan
mentioned
the
tools in place to educate first-
year
students
about
sexual
misconduct, including an online
course about sexual assault,
which students complete prior
to arriving on campus, and the
mandatory workshops known as
Relationship Remix and Change
it Up, which are required for
first-year
students
to
learn
about
consent
and
healthy
relationships.
LSA freshman Grace Jung,
said
the
panel
discussion
enlightened her about resources
available on campus to report
assault, such as SAPAC.
“One thing I took away was
the amount of research that
goes into the policy behind
sexual assault with SAPAC and
the
different
organizations,”
Jung said. “If something were
to happen within my four years
here, I hope to see Michigan
respond in a supportive way and
in a way that leads the victim to
the justice they want, need and
deserve.”
LSA
freshman
Sukainah
Khan had seen the documentary
multiple times, and felt the
panel
discussion
did
not
clarify whether the University
effectively addresses assault.
“When we were listening to
the responses (of panelists), some
of it was a little dissatisfying,”
Kahn said. “A lot of the answers
were good answers, and I know
they (the University) do have
resources, but they didn’t really
address
the
accessibility
to
them …Yes, there are measures
to take, but whether or not they
are being effective … It’s just
questions to ask. There’s always
Amid growing backlash,
Ross defended his fundraiser
to
the
Miami
Herald,
explaining he hoped to engage
with political leaders on job
creation and the economy
while calling himself “an
outspoken
champion”
of
various social issues.
Within
the
University
community, opinions on the
matter were divided. Some
expressed it would be wrong
for the University to disavow
Ross based on his politics,
while others believed Ross’s
association with Trump did
not align with the University’s
values.
Scott DeRue, dean of the
Ross
School
of
Business,
sent an email to the Business
School
community
after
the news broke in August,
emphasizing the school did
not endorse the fundraiser.
Yet
some
community
members felt the school’s
response
was
inadequate,
including
Business
alum
Kumar Rao, who started an
alumni open letter — which
has about 600 signatures at
time of publication — asking
the
University
remove
Ross’s name from buildings
campuswide.
Last week, another alum
created a Change.org petition
with the same demand, this
time open for anyone to
sign. Created by University
alum Logan Drummond, the
petition has more than 200
signatures as of Wednesday
night.
Drummond explained he
created this petition because
he believes Ross’s support of
Trump may impact student
well-being on campus.
“Particularly
for
marginalized
students
at
U-M, walking around and
seeing the Ross name and
knowing
its
associations
with Trump now, it’d make
them
feel
less
welcome,”
Drummond said.
When asked about Rao’s
open letter in early August,
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald told The Daily
all donors’ political views
are their own. In response
to
Drummond’s
petition,
Fitzgerald
wrote
the
University’s stance on the
issue remains unchanged.
“Regarding calls to remove
Stephen Ross’s name from the
Ross School of Business: We
will not do that,” Fitzgerald
wrote. “We don’t exclude
or include people from our
university community based
on their political views.”
Like Rao, Drummond said
he
finds
the
University’s
response lacking.
“I see this petition as
working in conjunction with
(the
alumni
open
letter)
to increase the pressure,”
Drummond
said.
“I
hope
to get a snowball rolling to
increase the effects of both.”
The
recent
controversy
surrounding Ross’s support
of Trump continues a series
of
incidents
concerning
free speech on campus, a
debate playing out on college
campuses
nationwide.
In
March,
Trump
signed
an
executive order to protect
free speech at universities
in response to some who
believe conservative views
are suppressed.
When contacted in early
August, LSA senior Maria
Muzaurieta wrote on behalf
of the University chapter
of College Republicans the
situation has led to unfair
“slander”
against
Ross.
College
Republicans
did
not respond to requests for
updated comment by time of
publication.
“Stephen
Ross
is
a
respectable and charitable
Republican
who
has
the
right to affiliate with and
fundraise for our nation’s
president, Donald Trump,”
Muzaurieta
wrote.
“We
respect
the
rights
of
celebrities and businessmen
alike
to
associate
with
whichever political figures
they support and we believe
that this extends to Stephen
Ross and President Trump.”
In response to those who
disagree with renaming the
Ross
School
of
Business,
Drummond emphasized he
does not believe the issue is
a violation of free speech. He
said he sees Ross’s support
of Trump as an endorsement
of Trump’s rhetoric, which
Drummond labeled as hate
speech that should not be
protected.
Drummond
questioned
whether
the
University’s
donors have too much of an
influence
over
University
policy.
“Doesn’t this limit the free
speech of students in a way?”
Drummond said. “It makes
our well-being lesser than
that of wealthy donors.”
On behalf of the University’s
chapter of College Democrats,
Public Policy junior Camille
Mancuso
connected
the
situation to an issue of values
instead of free speech.
“University building names
and donors are a reflection of
the school’s values,” Mancuso
wrote in an email to The Daily.
“Stephen Ross’s support of
Trump
reflects
values
of
racism and white supremacy.
These are not the values that
we hold as an organization,
as individuals or as a school
community.”
In
March
2018,
the
University’s Board of Regents
voted unanimously to rename
the former C.C. Little Building
and the Winchell House in
West Quad following months
of
advocacy.
University
administration decided both
cases met the “heavy burden”
required for building name
changes.
As a University professor
in the late 1800s, Winchell
wrote racist academic papers
maintaining
white
people
were biologically superior to
other groups. While president
of the University in the early
1900s, Little was a supporter
of the eugenics movement, the
anti-immigration movement
and later the tobacco industry.
Notably,
the
renamings
were
reviewed
by
the
President’s
Advisory
Committee
on
University
History.
Conversely,
the
recent calls to rename the
Ross
School
of
Business
involve a figure associated
with the University who is
still actively contributing to
the University.
In the past, there have also
been other debates on free
speech related to speakers
on campus. In 2013, author
Alice Walker was uninvited
from speaking at the Center
for Education of Women’s
anniversary event, as her
work included criticism of
Israel regarding the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. A letter
allegedly from Walker’s agent
claimed Walker’s invitation
was rescinded after sponsors
of the event threatened to
withdraw funding, a claim
the center has denied.
The issue of free speech
was at the forefront again in
2017, when many community
members
protested
after
the
University
considered
allowing white supremacist
Richard Spencer to speak
on campus. The University
ultimately decided not to host
Spencer as the administration
decided safety of attendees
could not be guaranteed.
However, those like Rao
and Drummond who wish
for the Business School to be
renamed may face difficulty
in achieving their goals.
Despite
the
University’s
firm stance on the issue and
waning campus interest in
the controversy, Drummond
said he plans to continue
advocating
for
the
name
change. Drummond explained
his next steps are to reach out
to other University donors for
support.
“I think putting pressure
on U-M through them, I
think would be the most
effective way besides student
voices
and
petitions,”
Drummond said. “Because
unfortunately, the financial
aspect of an issue influences
U-M more than moral issues
sometimes.”
ROSS
From Page 1A