“We’re trying to avoid a 
situation in which the same 
group of people tend to get 
invited or quoted in all of 
the different pieces and 
make it easier to erase the 
excuse of, ‘I didn’t know any 
women to appear on this 
panel or this conference, or 
to consult for this particular 
project,’” Litman said. 
While the database is still 
being created, the Twitter 
account has been in use 
since Oct. 1. Prifogle said the 
account is used to showcase 
the diversity of scholarship 
women 
and 
gender 
nonconforming people have 
in the discipline.
“Women don’t promote 
themselves in the same way 
that men might promote 
themselves,” 
Prifogle 
said. “We can do some of 
that promotional work for 
them, we can amplify their 
scholarship, we can amplify 
awards that they have won 
and bring greater attention 
to their work.”
The initiative is inspired 
by 
Women 
Also 
Know 
Stuff, a similar database 
and corresponding Twitter 
account of political science 
experts 
who 
identify 
as 
women 
or 
gender 
nonconforming. 
Prifogle 
was a member of a group 
which formed an additional 
database 
and 
Twitter 
account 
for 
historians 
identifying as women and 
gender 
nonconforming 
individuals called Women 
Also Know History, which 
is also based off of Women 
Also Know Stuff. Though 
the three initiatives are not 
in an official partnership, 
Litman explained, Women 
Also Know Law has been in 
contact with the others and 
has received support from 
them along the way.
In addition to Litman and 
Prifogle, Women Also Know 
Law has a faculty advisory 
board 
consisting 
of 
11 
University law professors 

who 
help 
manage 
the 
Twitter account, generate 
ideas for website content 
and publicize the initiative. 
A group of students from 
the Women Law Students 
Association 
collaborate 
with the faculty advisory 
board on the projects.
Second-year Law students 
Rachel 
Czwartacky 
and 
Emma 
Macfarlane 
are 
co-presidents of the Women 
Law Students Association 
and both became involved 
with Women Also Know 
Law when Litman reached 
out 
to 
them 
about 
the 
initiative at the beginning 
of the semester.
Czwartacky 
and 
Macfarlane said they are 
both looking forward to 
the impact of the initiative. 
From her involvement in 
Women Also Know Law, 
Czwartacky said she has 
gotten 
the 
opportunity 
to work with influential 
female law professors that 
she 
wouldn’t 
have 
met 
otherwise.
“There 
are 
so 
many 
panels that go on in the 
law school all the time 
that are all put on by 
different student groups,” 
Czwartacky said. “Even just 
between 
(Mcfarlane 
and 
me), we’re always thinking 
about 
whose 
voices 
are 
represented on these panels 
… (Women Also Know Law) 
is really perfect for both 
of us. And I think that was 
something we were looking 
to do.”
Before 
coming 
to 
law 
school at the University, 
Macfarlane 
taught 
in 
Bangkok, 
Thailand, 
for 
two years. Working in a 
very male-dominated field, 
Macfarlane said she found 
importance 
in 
having 
female 
role 
models 
and 
experts to look up to.
“It’s difficult to make 
your way when you don’t 
have people immediately at 
the forefront of your brain 
to look up to,” Macfarlane 
said. “I think that this 
is an excellent project to 
highlight people and maybe 

encourage the default be 
not a white man, but a 
woman or a person of color, 
or a person who is gender 
nonconforming.”
Litman 
said 
those 
involved 
in 
the 
Women 
Also Know Law initiative 
want the project to be used 
as a positive reinforcement 
and support tool for those 
who 
identify 
as 
women 
and gender nonconforming 
in law academia. She also 
hopes 
those 
considering 
entering 
academia 
can 
utilize the initiative to see 
the great work they can go 
on to do.
“We want to change the 
look and feel about what it 
means to be experts and to 
be supporting women who 
are doing amazing things 
in 
the 
law 
(field), 
and 
also 
encouraging 
people, 
reminding them about all of 
the amazing experts in the 
field who identify as women 
or gender nonconforming,” 
Litman said.
Prifogle said she wants 
Women Also Know Law 
to 
start 
a 
productive 

conversation 
about 

including 
more 
diversity 
in the field and bringing 
women 
and 
gender 
nonconforming 
voices 
to 
the 
foreground 
of 
legal 
academia.
“I 
hope 
for 
more 
representation of women 
in academia, on conference 
panels and syllabi; I hope 
the 
database 
enables 
greater 
representation 
and greater diversity in 
those key components of 
academic 
life,” 
Prifogle 
said. “But I also hope it 
starts 
a 
conversation 
in 
legal academia about the 
importance 
of 
diversity, 
the importance of tackling 
gender bias. We’re tackling 
gender bias in a couple of 
specific ways that I think 
are modeled on other ways 
that have proven successful, 
but they are not the only 
ways to tackle gender bias. 
And we alone are not going 
to solve gender bias in the 
academy.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, October 17, 2019 — 3A

LAW
From Page 1A

The Union has been closed 
since April 2018, when work 
began on the two-year, $85.2 
million renovation project. 
Students played a role in 
the decision-making process 
through the Michigan Union 
Board 
of 
Representatives, 
a 
student 
organization 
that consulted with Union 
administrators 
on 
the 
renovation. 
Rackham student Timothy 
Williams, 
a 
member 
of 
the MUBR and one of the 
students who served on the 
food review committee, said 
sustainability was a primary 
concern 
in 
considering 
which restaurants to put in 
the Union. 
“I 
know 
for 
a 
lot 
of 
us 
sustainability 
was 
at 
the 
forefront,” 
Williams 
said. “We wanted to avoid 
anything that wasn’t either 
recyclable or compostable, 
keep up with sustainability 
trends, not only in front of 
house but also back of house 
and make sure they’re using 
sustainable equipment and 
composting, et cetera. That 
was a pretty big part of it 
as well as menu diversity, 
which obviously played a 
huge role.” 
Amy 
White, 
director 
of 
the 
Michigan 
Union 
and associate director of 
University 
Unions, 
said 
she was looking forward to 
introducing new restaurants 
into the space.
“I think you’ll see that 
there 
are 
some 
familiar 
favorites, as well as some 
new 
faces 
and 
I 
think 
that’s good,” White said. “I 
think that if we opened the 
renovated Union and the 
same folks that we’ve seen 
for the last 30 years are still 
doing 
business 
that 
says 
something. In some ways 
that says some really good 

things, and it may also say 
some things that are not so 
good, so I think having some 
fresh businesses alongside 
long-standing 
favorites 
is 
something that I’m excited 
about.”
LSA senior Nick Schmidt, 
chair of the Michigan Union 
Board 
of 
Representatives, 
said customer service was 
another consideration. 
“I think that that’s a huge 
part of any operation that we 
have in the Union is making 
sure 
that 
the 
business 
interacts 
well 
with 
the 
students because we want 
students to feel comfortable 
in the Union,” Schmidt said. 
“That is their space.”
The 
current 
contracts 
vary from five to 10 years in 
length. 
Some 
restaurants, 
including 
Wendy’s, 
opted 
not to renew their contracts 
for space in the Union. Last 
January, 
activists 
from 
Washtenaw Solidarity with 
Farmworkers 
called 
on 
the University and Central 
Student 
Government 
to 
block Wendy’s from coming 
back to campus after the 
chain 
refused 
to 
sign 
the 
Fair 
Food 
Program, 
an 
initiative 
seeking 
to 
promote adequate working 
conditions and fair wages 
for agricultural laborers. 
The Wendy’s location in 
the Union was independently 
franchised and the owner 
subsequently decided not to 
renew the lease. 
White said the controversy 
did not impact the selection 
process in a significant way.
“I think we didn’t see a 
huge amount of controversy 
from individual vendors,” 
White said.
Williams 
agreed 
with 
White, adding “at the end 
of the day, we picked them 
because we thought they 
were all the best.”
“It 
was 
definitely 
in 
the back of my mind, just 

because it was so prevalent 
on campus, but by and large, 
we just didn’t run into that 
with businesses that we 
looked at in my opinion,” 
Williams said. “We asked 
about food sourcing for a 
sustainability 
perspective, 
more so than that particular 
concern. As far as I’m aware, 
it just never really came up.”
Apart from food, Schmidt 
said he was looking forward 
to seeing students return 
to 
the 
Union 
after 
its 
renovation.
“I mean, in my opinion, the 
open inviting space and the 
vibrancy of collaboration is 
something I’m excited for,” 
Schmidt said. “I’m excited 
to go into the Union and 
hear people talking and see 
people laughing and things 
like that.”
Williams 
noted 
the 
renovation will also enclose 
the courtyard on the main 
level, creating more space 
for students.
“I’m 
really 
excited 
about the new courtyard,” 
Williams 
said. 
“I 
think 
it’s going to be beautiful. 
It’ll be actually usable for 
most of the year, instead of 
freezing out there.”
The enclosed courtyard 
will be near the IdeaHub, 
a 
co-working 
space 
for 
student collaboration that 
will be built where the 
97-year-old billiards hall 
previously stood. 
Pile said she was excited 
to see the Union come alive 
again and watch students 
use the IdeaHub.
 “It’s going to be this 
amazing 
new 
space 
for 
student organizations on 
campus, really unlike any 
other space that we’ve ever 
seen on campus just for 
student organizations,” Pile 
said. “So it’s exciting to 
think about moving into that 
space and what it’s going to 
mean for student orgs on 
this campus.”

FOOD
From Page 1A

Sellers said. “I think it’s 
important 
that 
we 
start 
there, to understand that we 
are talking about cultural 
change.”
Sellers went on to discuss 
that while achieving change 
is not easy, the long-term 
benefits render it crucial to 
maintaining a reputation of 
greatness at the University. 
“By definition, that requires 
hard work,” Sellers said. “It 
means that the work has to 
be 
pervasive 
throughout 
the 
organization. 
It 
will 
take time… It also means 
the 
change 
must 
happen 
at 
multiple 
levels 
of 
the 
University… if we are going to 
make long term sustainable 
change.”
LSA senior Kyle Duffy said 
he attended the event because 
of his job on campus at the 
Office 
for 
Organizational 
Culture and Strategy. 
“A huge importance of our 
work is based on DEI,” Duffy 
said. “So, a big part of the DEI 
for the business and finance 
department is knowing what’s 
going 
on 
around 
campus. 
We came here to figure out 
what’s been going on… I am 
just interested to see what’s 
different.” 
Sellers went on to discuss 
specific points of progress 
within the plan. He explained 
the plan was implemented in 
conjunction 
with 
feedback 

his team had received from 
community members within 
the University. 
Currently, 
there 
are 
37 
action 
items 
taking 
place 
within the DEI plan. The 
items 
specifically 
target 
areas 
such 
as 
raising 
institutional 
awareness; 
aligning 
University 
policy, 
procedures 
and 
programs 
with 
DEI 
initiatives; 
creating 
inclusive 
cultural 
norms; 
and 
broadening 
institutional access. Sellers 
noted they were formulated 
through individuals’ direct 
participation at every level of 
the University. He said they 
did not come from personal 
directives from any University 
officials such as University 
President Mark Schlissel.
“These were not top-down 
handed initiatives,” Sellers 
said. “These action items were 
all developed from the initial 
planning 
process 
through 
focus 
groups, 
through 
social media opportunities… 
through town hall meetings 
and other kinds of meetings. 
These are not the president’s 
action 
items, 
these 
are 
definitely not my action items, 
these are action items that 
you all developed yourselves.” 
Sellers went on to discuss 
specific points of empirical 
evidence the strategic plan 
has made significant changes 
at the University. 
Rhonda Todd, director of 
academic success at the Ross 
School of Business, told The 
Daily she was motivated to 

attend the event in an effort 
to see the impact of the DEI 
initiative across campus. 
“The work I do for the Ross 
School of Business revolves 
around 
DEI, 
supporting 
students’ academic success,” 
Todd said. “I am always really 
busy in that building, and I 
wanted to consciously make 
myself get out of the building 
to get more on campus and get 
more involved with DEI work 
across campus, not just in our 
building.” 
She went on to discuss how, 
from her perspective, DEI 
initiatives are most successful 
when 
subunits, 
like 
the 
Business School, commit not 
only to internal improvements 
but think about changes in 
the context of the larger 
University. 
“DEI 
is 
important, 
necessary work,” Todd said. 
“Although we are making 
strides 
within 
our 
Ross 
community, it’s important to 
me to also be involved in the 
big picture. To do that, I must 
conscientiously engage.” 
Sellers 
concluded 
the 
discussion 
by 
announcing 
while areas for improvement 
certainly still exist, the plan 
has helped the University take 
steps forward.
“We understand that we 
have 
made 
a 
difference, 
and we are not the same 
University that we were at the 
start of this process,” Sellers 
said. “We still have a ways to 
go, but we are not where we 
were when we started.”

DEI
From Page 1A

Hussain 
is 
also 
on 
the 
symbolic 
programming 
committee, which works to 
bring awareness to the historic 
past 
of 
the 
buildings 
on 
campus, while also celebrating 
the 
milestones 
of 
these 
buildings. 
The committee put on events 
for the closing of the Union in 
2018, as well as a halfway point 
of construction, which Hussain 
said were especially important 
to her because of how much 
she loved the Union. She spent 

many hours absorbed in her 
studies in the Union prior to its 
reconstruction.
“The sophomore year that I 
spent 17 hours in the building 
one day… I loved the Union,” 
Hussain 
said. 
“I 
worked 
there, I would study there, I 
would grab meals there, so it 
definitely was a little hard not 
having it for my whole junior 
year. I’m so happy it’ll be open 
when I graduate.” 
Laura 
Seagram, 
the 
director of account services 
for 
auxiliary 
marketing 
and 
communications 
said 
she 
was 
very 
excited 
to 
help with and attend this 
event. She mentioned that 

the construction plans were 
running earlier than expected.
“We feel really good that 
we can meet that date and we 
had all been saying winter for 
2020 before, but now I think 
we’re comfortable in saying 
this coming January,” Seagram 
said. “It’s exciting.”
LSA 
junior 
Nithin 
Weerasinghe 
discussed 
his 
excitement for the birthday 
celebration as well as the 
reopening of the Union. 
“I think it’’s going to be 
really nice to have it back,” 
Weerasinghe said. “I know a lot 
of people studied there down 
at the cafes and I think a lot of 
clubs also used the space.”

ANNIVERSARY
From Page 1A

“We want to identify best 
practices around what the 
crisis 
intervention 
teams 
should be doing, what are 
the best practices around 
counseling kids, how quickly 
you get there, what role does 
family play, how long do 
services need to be available,” 
Zimmerman said. “We don’t 
really know what they are 
all yet, by the way. Part of it 
is we are going to learn. We 
have experts who are going 
to help us identify different 
areas, and we are going to try 
to see where the evidence is 
and help get the information 
out to the schools.” 
When 
asked 
how 
the 
bureau will cater to unique 
school 
characteristics, 
Zimmerman discussed the 
complex 
approach 
needed 
to provide schools with a 
tailored set of guidelines 
based on their individual 
situations.
“One of our tasks is to 
identify what are the best 
practices,” Zimmerman said. 
“What we also want to do is 
help schools identify what are 
their resources, and what are 
the needs of their context... 
Absolutely, (we are) thinking 
about 
many 
factors: 
the 
size of school might matter, 
socioeconomic status might 
matter, geographical location 
might matter, the resources 
available to a school might 
matter, 
a 
public 
charter 
might matter. So what we are 
going to try to do is, in a way 
where we can be as helpful as 
possible, identify what their 
place is like and what best 
fits them.”
In addition to his work 
with the center, Zimmerman 
co-leads the Firearm Safety 
Among Children and Teens 
Consortium. 
Launched 
in 
2017, FACTS is a five-year 
project devoted to seeking 
a scientific approach to gun 
violence 
prevention 
with 
respect to gun ownership 
rights. Funded by the Eunice 
Kennedy 
Shriver 
National 

Institute of Child Health and 
Human Development as part 
of the National Institutes of 
Health, the interdisciplinary 
project partners with over 
30 
researchers, 
health 
practitioners 
and 
firearm 
owners, as well as a dozen 
academic institutions. 
These 
efforts 
seek 
to 
address the issue of gun 
violence 
and 
threats 
to 
safety 
in 
American 
schools. According to U-M 
researchers, there has been 
an increase in violence at 
schools: 
The 
number 
of 
shootings in K-12 schools 
increased from 15 to 97 from 
2015 to 2019, and up to one in 
five students reported being 
in a fight in the last year.
Zimmerman said schools 
are in a position to implement 
better 
practices 
or 
more 
evidence-based strategies to 
support students who may be 
experiencing these issues. 
“The idea (of the center) 
is to create a resource that 
will help make a difference 
in making our schools safer 
for kids so they can learn, 
instead of worrying about 
their 
safety,” 
Zimmerman 
said.
As a member of the Warren 
County 
Democrats 
and 
the policy chair of U-M’s 
Roosevelt 
Institute, 
LSA 
junior 
Morgan 
Showen 
said he hopes the center 
will address the legislative 
inaction on gun violence. 
“Efforts 
to 
provide 
education and training to 
protect 
young 
Americans 
from further gun violence 
are always a step in the 
right 
direction,” 
Showen 
said. “However, just like the 
science behind the existence 
of 
climate 
change, 
the 
evidence is settled on which 
solutions have the greatest 
impact 
on 
reducing 
gun 
deaths.” 
Showen 
comes 
from 
Lebanon, Ohio, and noted 
his home state has recently 
received national attention 
after a mass shooting in 
Dayton in August. 
“My hope is that the School 
of Public Health’s new efforts 

will not simply be focused 
on treating the symptoms of 
gun violence, but will instead 
help to enable legislators in 
both Michigan and Ohio to 
take proven actions towards 
addressing the root cause of 
our national gun violence 
epidemic,” Showen said.
LSA senior Taylor King is 
a member of U-M Students 
Demand Action, a student 
organization 
dedicated 
to 
fighting gun violence. King 
said research dedicated to 
gun 
violence 
prevention 
is 
important, 
especially 
following 
the 
passage 
of 
the Dickey Amendment in 
1996, which forbade federal 
funding 
for 
gun 
violence 
prevention research.
“I hope to see this initiative 
take a varied approach to 
gun violence prevention at 
schools — considering not 
only mass shootings, which 
make up less than 1 percent 
of all shootings, but also 
considering gun suicide, daily 
gun violence and the toll it 
takes on young people who 
are impacted — primarily 
low-income 
students 
of 
color — and the mental and 
emotional toll of all gun 
violence on all young people 
and students,” King said. 
King tied the need to fight 
gun violence to social justice 
causes.
“However, I do want to 
highlight that centers like 
this should not be the only 
thing we are doing. While 
school safety is undeniably 
important, we also need to be 
looking into daily gun violence 
and 
its 
disproportionate 
impact on people of color, 
the 
intersection 
of 
gun 
violence 
and 
domestic 
violence, gun suicide, hate 
crimes and the countless 
other manifestations of gun 
violence in our communities,” 
King 
said. 
“There 
is 
a 
tendency for people to only 
think of mass shootings and 
school shootings when we 
talk about gun violence, but 
the problem is so much bigger 
than that and school safety 
campaigns cannot solve all of 
our problems.

SAFETY
From Page 1A