The
Office
of
Diversity,
Equity
and
Inclusion
and
University Housing hosted a
grand reopening of the Cesar
Chavez, Vicky Barner and
Cousins Active Multi Ethnic
Organization
(CAMEO)
multicultural
lounges
on
Tuesday. Each lounge featured
three speakers, and the Chavez
event in Mosher-Jordan Hall
drew in a crowd of around 50
students.
Diversity
and
Inclusion
Director
Amanda
McLittle
said the remodeling is part of
a DEI initiative to renovate
all multicultural lounges by
2021 in honor of the Trotter
Center’s
anniversary.
She
explained housing manages
18 multicultural spaces; 16
of which are multicultural
lounges. In 2015, the University
made
a
commitment
to
renovate all 16 of the lounges by
2021. The even celebrated the
lounges which were renovated
over the summer.
McLittle
emphasized
the
importance of multicultural
lounges, saying they provide
a welcoming environment for
minorities on campus.
“A
multicultural
lounge
really
celebrates
different
identities on campus and is
meant to be a safe space for
students
of
marginalized
identities,” McLittle said. “So,
the programming that happens
in these lounges will focus
on multicultural issues and
topics.”
The first speaker, Senior
Associate
Director
of
University
Housing
Amir
Baghdadchi,
explained
the
lounge is dedicated to Chavez
because he empowered people
to become activists.
“This celebrates the bold life
of Cesar Chavez, right there,
all around us, who fought for
the rights of farm laborers,”
Baghdadchi said. “But he did
so much more than that. In
being a champion of the rights
of farmworkers, he became
an icon of social change.
He created a model, and his
message fundamentally won
empowerment.
What
that
means is he showed us what
happens when ordinary people
who don’t feel powerful, who
don’t identify as powerful, who
aren’t powerful; if they get
together and organize, if they
focus their effort on one thing,
then incredible change can
happen.”
Baghdadchi also highlighted
how all the words on the
walls around the lounge are
in
Spanish
with
an
English translation on
the bottom, instead of
the other way around.
Baghdadchi said it helps
emphasize
the
Latino
community is the priority
within the lounge.
“Spanish comes first,”
Baghdadchi said. “When
you see that, you think,
‘Brilliant idea,’ but it’s
not an obvious one, and
that is an idea that came
from La Casa. They said,
‘No, this should be a
space on campus where
Latino heritage comes
first,’ and we made that
happen.”
Public Health junior
Ronnie
Alvarez,
lead
director
of
La
Casa,
reflected on his journey
in an interview with
The
Daily.
He
said
he
participated
in
workshops as a freshman
where he felt welcome as
a new student on campus
and
was
inspired
to
become an activist.
“I know, personally
reflecting on my experience
with this lounge, my freshman
year I was part of the ALMA
program, which is a welcome
program for incoming Latino
students,
and
our
final
reflection was actually in that
lounge,” Alvarez said. “And it
was very empowering because
it was the end of the program,
and that’s where we transition
into becoming students at the
University. And from there,
there was a very empowering
speech where they inspired
the Latino community to be
activists on campus.”
Alvarez said it means a lot to
him to see the new renovations
and to have a place where the
Latino community can come
and feel safe. He also noted
the University incorporated
students’ ideas when designing
the renovations.
“I think they’re really nice,”
Alvarez
said.
“Especially
seeing how the lounge looked
beforehand: the color scheme,
the pictures, the figures. It
all looks great. My favorite
part about it is a lot of the
community members in La
Casa actually helped, the whole
thing was very inclusive in
terms of the planning process
for designing this.”
He also emphasized the
importance of having a physical
space
for
marginalized
communities on campus where
they feel welcome.
“I
think
multicultural
lounges are one of the most
tangible ways to show that
certain
communities
are
welcome on campus,” Alvarez
said. “So, this is a physical
space for you to feel welcome
and represented. Also, DEI
does a great job of that with
these spaces. Even though I
think there’s a lot of progress
to be made, this is definitely a
step in the right direction.”
R A SA FESTIVAL DANCES
2A — Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Indo-American graduate students perform Bharatanatyam dances as part of the Rasa festival, an India-themed multi-arts festival at the Ann Arbor
District Library Tuesday evening.
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EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Space celebrates activist Cesar Chavez, caters to Latinx community at U-M
DEI renovates three lounges in honor
of marginalized students on campus
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
VIRGO SEASON
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Court allows intervention in suits
September 18, 2000
Two
minority
advocate
groups will be allowed to serve as
co-defendants in the admissions
lawsuits
facing
two
University
schools as a result of a decision
handed down by the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals in Cincinnati
last month. The decision will delay
the two lawsuits that are challenging
the admissions processes of the
University’s Law School and College
of Literature,
Science and the Arts until next
summer.
Miranda Massie, lead counsel for
the defendants intervening in the
suit facing the Law School, said the
introduction of co-defendants is a
significant victory.
“The attack on affirmative action
can only prevail if the truth is not let
into the courtroom,” Massie said.
“We are elated. It is a historic turning
point.”
The LSA suit is scheduled to begin
some time next July or August, with
the Law School case set to start Aug.
28, 2000. The cases originally were
scheduled to go to trial this fall.
The
Washington,
D.C.-based
Center for Individual Rights filed the
lawsuits in 1997 on behalf of three
white applicants, contending that
using race as a factor in admissions
is unfair.
LSA applicants Jennifer Gratz and
Patrick Hamacher and Law School
applicant Barbara Grutter claim they
were unfairly denied admission, con-
tending that less-qualified minority
applicants were admitted.
The court’s decision allowing the
inclusion of intervening defendants
marks the first time minority
advocates will be permitted to have
their interests directly addressed in
an affirmative action case.
University
Deputy
General
Counsel Liz Barry said trials were
pushed back to allow the intervening
defendants time to become fully
acquainted with the cases.
“We welcome the intervenors
because
their
point-of-view
is
relevant and important to the
debate,” Barry said. “Clearly, they
need time to adequately prepare.”
Barry said in order for the
intervenors to be included, they had
to prove that they had a legal interest
in the cases and that they would
not be adequately represented by
the two parties already involved.
The decision, which came more
than a year after separate district
judges denied previous requests for
intervention, allows about 60 high
school and undergraduate students
to defend their interests in both
the LSA and the Law School cases,
respectively.
Godfrey Dillard, lead counsel
for the intervening coalition in
the LSA case, which is backed
by several national and local
organizations,
including
the
National
Association
for
the
Advancement of Colored People
and the American Civil Liberties
Union, said the decision allows the
real work to begin.
“Certainly we are happy with the
decision, but it is a small step,” he
said. “It opens the door for us to play
a full and equal role in the case.”
Dillard
said
the
attorneys
representing
the
intervening
defendants will now be allowed to
interact with the judge in chambers
and file motions. As defendants, the
coalitions have the same rights as the
University and the plaintiffs.
“We have not been intimately
involved” before the decision, Dillard
said, adding that the coalition has
had to view the case as an observer
and now needs to review information
and cross examine witnesses.
Terry Pell. senior legal counsel
for CIR, said the introduction of
intervening defendants into the
cases will not substantially affect the
fundamental issue being challenged
in the lawsuits - the
constitutionality of race in college
admissions.
“Adding those issues will not
subtract from the issue that is at the
table,” Pell said.
In the interest of preventing
further delay, Pell said CIR will not
appeal the court’s ruling.
“We want to move forward,” he
said.
Former
U.S.
President
and
University
alum
Gerald
Ford
supports the fight to preserve
affirmative action. He wrote an
opinion piece for the Aug. 8 edition
of The New York Times backing the
University’s defense of its admissions
policies.
Ford wrote that an affirmative
action “ban would scuttle Michigan’s
current system one that takes into
account nearly a dozen elements -
race, economic standing, geographic
origin,
athletic
and
artistic
achievement among them - to create
the finest educational environment
for all students.”
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