The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 12, 2019 — 3A
Among
the
ethnicity
designations
available
is
the Middle Eastern/North
African identity option. In
2017,
ME/NA-identifying
students
formed
the
#WeExist campaign, asking
the University to add the
ME/NA identity category to
University documents.
At the time, the University
followed the U.S. Census,
which
does
not
have
a
ME/NA
identity
category.
Thus,
ME/NA-identifying
individuals can only mark
themselves as white or other,
which
many
—
including
Public Policy senior Arwa
Gayar, co-present of the Arab
Student Association — feel
do not accurately represent
their identity.
“There
was
something
uneasy about putting white,
and I didn’t want to put
African American because
I
don’t
want
to
co-opt
the
experience
of
Black
Americans,” Gayar said. “So I
always put ‘other’ and always
felt like my identity was
forgotten and overlooked.”
Though
the
Common
Application and the Coalition
Application
—
the
only
applications
used
by
the
University for undergraduate
admissions
—
include
a
ME/NA identity option, it
falls under the white racial
category.
Accordingly,
ME/NA identity data has
historically
been
reported
under white identity data.
Since its inception, the
campaign
has
succeeded
in moving the University
to
disaggregate
ME/NA
identity
data
from
white
identity
data
on
internal
University documents, such
as on surveys, undergraduate
admissions applications and
Rackham Graduate School
admissions applications.
The
email
explained
some students may find the
extended
ethnicity
data
they
shared
during
the
admissions process already
entered in Wolverine Access.
The email also noted the
new process gives students
“greater flexibility in their
identification.”
University
alum
Jad
Elharake, a founder of the
#WeExist
campaign,
said
using admissions applications
to
collect
ethnicity
data
is the most efficient and
effective, as every student
at the University must fill
out the form. He expressed
excitement
for
the
new
extended ethnicity process
on
Wolverine
Access,
which he sees as a means to
collect
potentially
useful
supplemental data on the
student population.
To Elharake, however, the
new
ethnicity
designation
process is also critical for
better
understanding
the
University’s faculty and staff
population, for which there
is no mechanism such as
admissions applications to
collect ethnicity data.
“It’s great that this collects
extended
ethnicity
data
for students, but the more
important takeaway is this
process collects this data for
faculty and staff,” Elharake
said. “This was a big push for
us early on … We wanted to
know how faculty members
and staff identify as ME/
NA.”
With this data, Elharake
said, statistical analysis could
be done on a variety of topics,
such
as
potential
racial
discrimination
in
hiring
and trends on promotions
and appointments. The data
could also illuminate issues
of representation, such as
how many staff and faculty
of a given identity there are
across different units, and
if the makeup of faculty and
staff reflects the student
population.
“If you don’t have data,
you can’t defend your needs
and
the
issues
of
your
community,” Elharake said.
“You might not even know
some of the issues that are
happening.”
LSA senior Silan Fadlallah,
founding sister and president
of
Epsilon
Alpha
Sigma,
the first Arab sorority in
the United States, was also
a leader in the #WeExist
campaign. She noted the data
could help the University
better understand how to
fund
ME/NA
groups
on
campus.
“It gives the University an
idea of how many of us there
are, and how they should allot
their resources,” Fadlallah
said. “If you see there is this
racial category not being
accounted for, once you do
account for us, you’ll further
be able to assess where your
funding should go, and how
you should support these
students.”
Gayar
also
expressed
excitement for the process
and said she hopes to see
the
data
used
to
better
understand the disparities
between various University
communities. However, she
worried about the possibility
of the data being misused.
“I think the Arab and
Muslim community has had
a history of being surveilled
by security institutions and
political institutions,” Gayar
said. “While it’s difficult
to imagine U-M using their
data like that, I still think
we
should
be
cautionary
and make sure data on our
population is treated like data
from any other population.”
With the new extended
ethnicity
process,
the
information could be useful
for other ethnicity groups as
well. LSA senior Dim Mang,
co-chair
of
United
Asian
American
Organizations,
said
she
would
like
to
see
extended
ethnicity
data address the needs of
underrepresented
Asian
American ethnicity groups
who, according to Mang, are
often overshadowed by larger
groups in analysis of general
Asian-Pacific
Islander
American identity data.
“There’s this inclination
to serve the needs of really
big groups, like Chinese-
Americans,
Korean-
Americans, which is really
important, but I feel like
there’s lots of smaller subsets
of
Asian
Americans
who
often really feel neglected
in conversations about their
own
communities,”
Mang
said. “I hope they try to use
this data to figure out what
those
communities
need
while looking at what our
community needs as a whole
at the same time.”
However, Mang noted the
process is voluntary. She
speculated this may lead to
data not reflective of the
entire student population.
“I think it’s interesting
that it’s voluntary, because
then how emblematic of the
student body are your results
actually going to be?” Mang
said. “So I don’t know how
effective it will be, but I do
think it’s important for the
University to do something.”
Overall, while Fadlallah
said she finds the extended
ethnicity
process
a
good
start, she said she hopes the
University continues making
efforts
to
increase
the
visibility and representation
of
ME/NA-identifying
students.
“At this point I feel like
the University is just now
starting to understand we
are here,” Fadlallah said.
“It’s about time that they do,
and that they start moving
forward and talking with the
students on campus to see
what they need.”
ETHNICITY
From Page 1A
“You can see close
up what it means to
give the government
power to take another
human being.”
“The majority of people
will immediately say that
the stereotype of refugees
is that they are possible
terrorists,” Kutmah said. “Yet
these stereotypes are often
linked to the far-right. The
(predominant)
stereotype
of refugees is on that we all
buy into: the stereotype that
they are weak, that they are
helpless, they are victims.
The story we propagate is
that these other people that
look different than us … need
us to help them.”
Kutmah said she wants
refugees
to
be
seen
as
individuals
who
have
potential, not victims that all
share the same story.
“What if we saw their
potential?”
Kutmah
asks.
“What
if
we
saw
each
refugee as having individual
potential, the same way we
ask a kindergarten teacher to
see each student to imagine
their dreams?”
Dr.
Odessa
Gonzalez
Benson, assistant professor
of social work, and her team
have partnered to do research
with
a
migrant
based
organization that deal with
mothers of missing migrants.
The organization hopes to
eventually pull from its oral
history and data to create a
website and an exhibit with
the mothers as the main
storytellers.
“We want to feature the
story of them as advocats,”
Benson
said.
“So
these
mothers are the leaders of
the movement that’s calling
on
Italian
and
Tunisian
governments to find solutions
to their missing sons.”
Benson quickly introduced
refugee and the president of
the Bhutanese Community
of Michigan, Dilli Gautam to
speak about his experiences.
Gautam focused not on his
experience
as
a
refugee
but rather his experience
as a mentor. He related a
particular story of a young
man named John who had
only been in America for six
days when Gautam met him.
“Any newcomer, I ask him
to write down my phone
number a few times on a
piece of paper so they can
remember it … and call me if
they need anything outside
school,” Gautam said. “It
was a challenge at first to
teach him how to hold a pen,
how to place a piece of paper
on a table and how to write
numbers correctly.”
Guatam received a phone
call at one in the morning
from an unknown number.
It was a man who had found
John wandering the streets
and the only thing John could
tell him was Gautam’s phone
number. Gautam picked him
up and drove him to the high
school. Apparently, John had
gotten lost buying milk for
his brother.
“Imagine how his parents
must have felt.” Gautam said.
“Imagine
how
vulnerable
John must have felt.”
Guatam said John joined
the
Marines
and
Gautam
believes
John’s
enlistment
is a perfect example of how
refugees can stand up for
themselves and for others
when shown proper guidance.
Once
the
panel
had
concluded
their
talking
points, the audience made
comments
and
asked
questions.
One
audience
member in particular asked
why mental health was not
discussed more. All four of
the panelists agreed mental
health should be a large part
of the resettlement process.
However, they found that
sometimes the nations which
they migrated to do not list
mental health as a priority
even for their own citizens.
LSA senior Noor Saleem
assisted Belgrade with the
research.
Saleem
is
also
a refugee and spent her
time translating English to
Arabic when meeting with
the individuals engaged in
the research program. She
was most surprised by how
different everyone’s stories
are.
“Personally, I am a refugee,
so
I
have
been
through
many life events so I have a
background of both knowing
how to feel as a refugee,”
Saleem said. “But to them
when I was asking them
questions, they were telling
their stories and each one has
a specific story that’s very
uniques to them and that was
very special about it. Before
I was kind of generalizing
‘Oh,
refugees,
they’ve
all
been through a lot.’ But no,
everyone has a certain degree
and certain tolerance of what
they can handle.’”
REFUGEES
From Page 1A
“It’s
really
tied
into
people’s perceptions of harm,”
Schulenberg said. “That is,
how much harm do you think
someone’s doing if they vape
frequently or regularly, and
when perception of harm goes
up, it goes down, and vice
versa, when perceptions of
harm go down, use goes up.”
Schulenberg
noted
the
trends identified in the study
might shift given the recent
spate of high profile injuries
connected to vaping that left
users hospitalized.
“What’s happening the past
couple of months, it’s kind of
going against it, people do see
it as a big thing,” Schulenberg
said. “But, you know, our data
were collected in 2017-2018,
before
all
these
tragedies
with people ending up in
emergency rooms because of
vaping.”
LSA
junior
Blaine
Thompson
said
he
was
frustrated by Whitmer’s ban,
citing the lack of streamlined
policy-making.
“Targeting
and
banning
an entire industry on the
basis of a shaky hypothesis
is juvenile, to say the least,”
Thompson
said.
“On
top
of that, going around the
elected
representatives
of
the state by declaring a state
of
‘emergency’
is
wildly
tyrannical.”
Thompson
went
on
to
express discontent with the
Trump
administration’s
decision to follow Whitmer’s
lead. He said a ban negatively
impacts
individuals
who
use the products to break
their addiction to cigarettes
without the artificial tobacco
flavor.
“It’s so premature and it
does nothing but hurt the
people that use it for what it’s
designed for but happen to
hate the fake tobacco flavor,”
Thompson said.
Schulenberg
concluded
with a warning. While vaping
may seem like a harmless
pastime,
the
threat
of
a
lifetime of addiction looms
constantly over any and all
users.
“The thing with nicotine
is
that
it’s
addictive,”
Schulenberg said. “And I can
imagine people want to try
vaping. There’s a buzz around
it, and it seems to be culturally
sanctioned – it’s legal, if
you’re 21 or some places 18.
And so what’s the big deal?
The big deal, in addition to
what we’re seeing with all
these
tragedies
—
people
ending up in emergency rooms
— is that it’s hard to get away
from nicotine once it’s got a
hold of you.”
E-CIGS
From Page 1A
“I
could
sense
it’s
because they had been
made to be afraid that
there’s some people so
evil we can’t put them
in prison because they
would kill other people,”
Prejean said.
Ashley
Lucas,
Prison
Creative
Arts
Project
director at the University
of Michigan, introduced
Prejean
at
the
event.
Lucas
commended
Prejean for her advocacy
on the issue.
“My
friend,
Sister
Helen
Prejean,
is
a
Louisiana
nun
from
the Congregation of St.
Joseph, and it is my belief
that she has done more for
the
national
movement
to end the death penalty
than any other person
in U.S. History,” Lucas
said. “Those who know
her work feel a kind of
reverence one can only
feel for holy people …
Sister Helen fills me with
a kind of awe that I feel
for very few people.”
Prejean
discussed
coming of age in the
1960s,
as
the
Second
Vatican was addressing
the
Catholic
Church’s
place
in
the
outside
world. She recounted her
experience
of
dressing
up in the clothing of
widowed women to go out
and explore the world.
Additionally,
Prejean
described the experience
of watching her pen pal be
executed as her spark-
starting
moment
and
changed
the
trajectory
of her life into one of
advocacy.
“You can see close up
what it means to give
the
government
power
to take another human
being,” Prejean said. “A
conscious,
imaginative
human being whose been
in his cell for 20, 30 years
and then being taken out
and
to
his
execution.
Once you see it, it’s that
fire in your soul and you
can’t unsee it.”
Community
member
Jane
Van
Slembrouck
said Prejean’s discussion
of finding fire in life
specifically
resonated
with her.
“I loved the way she
talked about finding that
moment of fire in your
life,”
Van
Slembrouck
said. “A moment that’s
transformative.
Some
kind of experience that
you can clearly define a
before and an after. For
her, it was the moment of
witnessing the execution,
but I think she was trying
to say each of us should
seek out those moments
when we feel fire in us
and take that forward
into our lives.”
During
a
question-
and-answer
portion
following
the
talk,
Prejean emphasized the
importance of bringing
women into conversations
— especially in places
where
women
have
historically
been
underrepresented,
like
the Catholic Church.
“When we look at the
health of the church and
what is happening with
the priests, we see that
we are not at all a healthy
church,”
Prejean
said.
“We need the wisdom of
women.”
University
alum
Mia
Hutchinson,
who
participated
in
PCAP
while
enrolled
as
a
student, also emphasized
the
importance
of
supporting prisoners as
they are often voiceless in
society.
“People in prison are
looked upon as lying on
the outskirts of society,
and I think they aren’t
given much attention from
the
everyday,
average
person,” Hutchinson said.
“The more people stand
up and rally around these
people who don’t have a
voice at all, it can really
shed
a
light
on
their
situation.”
SOCIAL JUSTICE
From Page 1A
At
the
University
of
Michigan, students were
troubled over the news.
White Claw Hard Seltzer
has become a staple around
the
University
campus,
whether in the hands of
students being arrested for
underage drinking during
a game day or being passed
around in their decorative
white case at a day party.
LSA
senior
Max
Lederman
said
he
was
expecting White Claws to be
popular during the school
year, but was not prepared
for just how prominent they
would be on campus.
“Coming
off
of
the
summer I definitely knew
that
White
Claw
was
gaining a lot of popularity,”
Lederman said. “But I had
no idea that when I came
to Michigan it was going to
be as widely consumed as
it has been. Like I’ve seen
it at every tailgate, every
pregame that I’ve been to.
People are just really sippin’
on them.”
Lederman, whose favorite
flavor of the drink is ruby
grapefruit, said he thinks
White Claw is a lighter
substitute for beer, which
he finds harder to drink.
“It’s a nice alternative to
drinking beer, just because
when you drink beer you
get really full. It makes your
stomach upset, but you can
drink a lot of White Claws,”
Lederman said. “They’re
also just refreshing.”
Information
senior
Rachel Rothstein, who also
prefers the ruby grapefruit
flavor, agreed White Claw
provided a better alternative
to hard liquor.
“I think that it’s an easy
drink that tastes good, so
you can drink slowly and it
still has the same effect,”
Rothstein said.
Rothstein said since her
friends have been buying
the drink in bulk, she feels
her
community
at
the
University would be directly
affected by a shortage.
“In my house, everybody
drinks White Claw, and
if I didn’t know about the
shortage from the news, I
would have no idea because
people in my house buy at
least seven packs a week,”
Rothstein said.
However,
according
to
Robert Kesto, owner of Ann
Arbor’s Champion’s Party
Store, U-M students have
nothing to worry about.
Kesto said they have more
than enough of the spiked
seltzer and don’t expect to
run out any time soon.
“We have not run out, and
we’re a busy store,” Kesto
said. “Welcome Week is the
busiest week of the year,
and we didn’t run out, so I
don’t think we will ever run
out.”
Kesto actually remarked
that Natural Light Seltzer
has been just as popular
lately and has been taking
some sales away from White
Claw.
“In my store, Natty Light
has taken half of their
sales,” Kesto said.
Either way, it might not
be a bad idea for students
to stock up while they still
can.
CLAW
From Page 1A
“Targeting and
banning an entire
industry on the basis
of a shaky hypothesis
is juvenile, to say the
least.”