For the state of Michigan, 
this would mean the University 
could 
resume 
its 
previous 
practice 
of 
affirmative 
action and the use of race in 
admissions decisions. 
The lawsuit was filed in 
November 2014, claiming that 
the practice of racial balancing, 
commonly known as affirmative 
action, in Harvard’s admissions 
process was discriminatory. 
In Burroughs’ conclusion, 
she described her belief that 
racial balance positively affects 
Harvard University’s student 
body and explains why she 
upheld their affirmative action 
policy. 
“(Students) will have the 
opportunity 
to 
know 
and 
understand one another beyond 
race, 
as 
whole 
individuals 
with 
unique 
histories 
and 
experiences,” Burroughs wrote. 
“Until we (can all do that), race 
conscious admissions programs 
that survive strict scrutiny 
will have an important place 
in society and help ensure that 
colleges and universities can 
offer 
a 
diverse 
atmosphere 
that 
fosters 
learning, 
improves 
scholarship, 
and 
encourages mutual respect and 
understanding.” 
Rob Sellers, the University’s 
vice provost for equity and 
inclusion and chief diversity 
officer, 
commented 
on 
the 
Harvard admissions case and 
how it could ultimately affect 
the University in an email 
statement to The Daily. 
 “The decision is important 
in reaffirming the compelling 
nature of [the] benefits [of 
diversity] -- an argument that U 
of M successfully championed 
before the Supreme Court in 
the Grutter and Gratz decisions 
-- but ultimately does not affect 
our admissions practices, as 
we remain subject to Prop 2,” 
Sellers wrote. “On a national 
level, 
the 
case’s 
ultimate 
impact is not yet clear: SFFA 
has reportedly already said it 
will appeal to the First Circuit, 
and to the Supreme Court if 
necessary. 
LSA senior James Lee, the 
advocacy chair of United Asian 
American 
Organizations, 
similarly 
expressed 
that 

affirmative action would benefit 
the University.
“I think we very much need 
it,” Lee said. “I think affirmative 
action 
is 
a 
good 
thing, 
inherently. It gives people the 
channels and avenues that they 
historically weren’t given into 
the top tier elite universities. So 
I guess as a blanket statement, 
yes, we do support affirmative 
action.” 
In 
contrast 
to 
Harvard 
University, the University of 
Michigan has not considered 
race as a part of the admissions 
process since 2006. This change 
occurred after a statewide ballot 
initiative when the Proposal 
2 amendment, which banned 
the use of race in admissions 
in education, was added to the 
state constitution. The Supreme 
Court ruled the amendment 
was constitutional in 2014. 
Following this change, the 
University 
saw 
declines 
in 
the enrollment of minority 
students. To combat this shift, 
the 
University 
established 
programs through The Center 
for 
Educational 
Outreach, 
such as collaborations with 
K-12 
schools 
and 
service 
organizations 
on 
campus. 
University 
administration 
has 
confirmed 
they 
will 
continue to be an affirmative 
action 
employer, 
ensuring 
all individuals have an equal 
opportunity for advancement, 
and 
have 
reaffirmed 
their 
commitment 
to 
diversity, 
implementing 
a 
five-year 
plan for diversity, equity and 
inclusion efforts that began in 
2016. 
Sellers also commented on 
how these programs and the 
University’s 
commitment 
to 
diversity affect students, despite 
not being able to use affirmative 
action in admissions. 
 
“As 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan enters the fourth year 
of its five-year strategic plan for 
diversity, equity and inclusion, 
we continue to make progress 
in transforming the university 
into a place where everyone 
has an equitable opportunity 
to succeed and contribute,” 
Sellers wrote. “These changes 
can be seen and felt throughout 
our 
campus, 
as 
programs, 
practices 
and 
initiatives 
continue to reflect our values 
in making Michigan a more 
diverse, equitable and inclusive 

university.”
Despite 
the 
University’s 
commitment 
to 
diversity, 
Public Policy junior Cydney 
Gardner-Brown said she is one 
of only two Black students in 
her cohort at the Gerald R. Ford 
School of Public Policy. This 
has often forced her to be the 
spokesperson of her race, she 
said.
“Black 
students 
entering 
spaces where they are the racial 
minority 
can 
be 
extremely 
difficult for them to navigate,” 
Gardner-Brown said. “As one 
of the only two Black students 
in the Ford Class of 2021, my 
presence is hyper-visible to my 
classmates and instructors. My 
voice, face and opinions are 
often amplified, whether I want 
them to be or not, because a 
Black perspective is quite rare.” 
She 
thinks 
the 
state 
of 
Michigan’s lack of affirmative 
action 
in 
admissions 
has 
negatively 
impacted 
the 
University and student body. 
“I’ll 
say 
that 
repealing 
(affirmative action) made a 
significant negative impact on 
diversity on campus which is 
harmful to the university as a 
whole,” Gardner-Brown said. 
“Its repeal was a demonstration 
of the Supreme Court’s lack 
of empathy and resolve for 
social reform and of its failure 
to recognize and honor the 
dire need for trailblazers in 
public educational settings to 
help rectify institutionalized 
racism.” 
In Harvard’s case, though 
Burroughs’ ruled in favor of 
the school, she also suggested 
there were ways the admissions 
process could be improved. 
“Notwithstanding the fact 
that 
Harvard’s 
admissions 
program 
survives 
strict 
scrutiny, it is not perfect,” 
Burroughs 
wrote 
in 
her 
decision. 
“The process would likely 
benefit 
from 
conducting 
implicit 
bias 
trainings 
for 
admissions 
officers, 
maintaining clear guidelines 
on the use of race in the 
admissions process … That 
being said, the Court will 
not dismantle a very fine 
admissions 
program 
that 
passes constitutional muster, 
solely because it could do 
better.”

“But with the Plessy v. 
Ferguson decision, with the 
overall 
understanding 
that 
the 
national 
government 
would not be aggressive about 
implementing 
and 
ordering 
and protecting the rights of 
African 
Americans, 
voter 
registration collapsed.”
From 
this 
concept, 
Pinderhughes 
said 
she 
developed her own notion of 
a “contested nadir,” showing 
resistance 
in 
the 
face 
of 
systematic struggle for the 
African-American community. 
The contested nadir represents 
a new resurgence of the civil 
rights movement in the United 
States. 
“This is a kind of optimistic 
future,” 
Pinderhughes 
said. 
“I’m 
arguing 
that 
there 
are challenges — there’s no 
question 
that 
the 
Trump 
administration 
has 
worked 
very hard to undercut all the 
reforms that were being put 
in place over the last 40 to 50 
years — but that there’s enough 
structural changes that make 
this (stable) long term.”
Rackham student Michelle 
Mann, a doctoral candidate 
in history, said she thought 
the 
historical 
comparisons 
throughout the lecture allowed 
for a better understanding of 
racial dynamics in the country.
“I think it’s great,” Mann 
said. 
“I 
appreciated 
the 
comparison of the nadir to 
a new nadir. I think there’s 
definitely something to that. 
You can’t understand where 
you’re at if you don’t know 
where you came from.”
According 
to 
Rackham 
student 
Kamri 
Hudgins, 
connecting 
concepts 
of 
academics 
and 
activism 
is 
effective 
in 
starting 
conversations 
about 
institutional change.
“I think it’s always good 
to bridge the gap between 

academia 
and 
activism,” 
Hudgins 
said. 
“So, 
I 
feel 
like a lot of times when you 
think about people like Ralph 
Bunche — he was a scholar and 
an activist — so when you have 
these people on the ground 
doing the work, the grassroots-
type-thing that are going on, 
it’s good to have things like 
this because you almost need a 
framework to pull from.”
When asked about modern 
movements like Black Lives 
Matter, 
Pinderhughes 
said 
social media has allowed for 
the resurgence of a large-scale 
civil rights movement.
“In a sense, what we’re 
seeing is the full mobilization 
of 
the 
African-American 
community,” 
Pinderhughes 
said. “I think we’re not afraid 
to rise up and take public 
stands about it and protest in 
the streets and do things that 
people wouldn’t necessarily 
think you’d be safe doing all 
the time. Ella Baker used 
to say ‘Strong people don’t 
need strong leaders.’ It seems 
to me that’s where we’re 
seeing community organizing 
and 
grassroots 
organizing 
happening 
frequently, 
and 
those local organizers rising up 
and challenging the police and 
local officials successfully.” 
Hudgins said she appreciated 
the acknowledgment of a new 
era of civil rights in the lecture.
“I thought it was really good 
because you don’t necessarily 
hear people talking about this 
new era of civil rights that we’re 
in. People don’t really frame it 
in that context,” Hudgins said. 
“It’s like everybody knows 
something is going on. There’s 
a lot of movements and a lot 
of talk. There’s a lot of stuff 
happening, but you don’t really 
know what is going on, so I 
think it’s good to even just 
start baseline.”
According to Pinderhughes, 
the 
Obama 
presidency 
and 
subsequent 
Trump 
presidency was the result of an 
overwhelming change in racial 

dynamics and politics in the 
country.
“Decades of work seemed 
to be moving in the right 
direction, 
and 
then 
the 
improbable 
election 
of 
Obama surprised many of the 
most astute observers into 
saying ‘not in my lifetime,’” 
Pinderhughes said. “And then 
Trump was the opposite and 
the inverse of an Obama, and 
yesterday was the 1000th day 
of Trump’s presidency and he 
may have lost his base.”
When asked about how the 
modern ideological landscape 
pertains to the 2020 election, 
Pinderhughes said candidates 
appealing 
to 
“old-school” 
Black politics are struggling 
to garner the attention and 
support 
of 
young 
African-
American voters.
“You could argue that Harris 
and Booker are out there on 
the 
edges,” 
Pinderhughes 
said. “Partly — I’m pointing to 
the race test — how Black are 
they, issue, and then there’s 
the 
issues 
of 
they’re 
not 
liberal enough for the young 
population. I wonder what this 
means in terms of what people’s 
definition is of ‘liberal.’ How 
do we judge that?”
According 
to 
Rackham 
student 
Zoe 
Walker, 
discussions regarding racial 
dynamics 
are 
especially 
important on the U-M campus.
“The University of Michigan 
is still a predominantly white 
campus in the Midwest, so I 
think diversity is going to be an 
ongoing issue and the question 
of civil rights is going to be an 
ongoing issue in a place like 
Michigan, especially in Ann 
Arbor,” Walker said. “Even 
though there’s only 4 percent 
black students here at this 
school, as Prof. Pinderhughes 
was saying race has become a 
national issue and it’s always 
been an issue in national 
politics, 
but 
especially 
in 
the era of Trump it’s going 
to continue to be a national 
conversation.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, October 18, 2019 — 3

HARVARD
From Page 1

DYNAMICS
From Page 1

Nickxit 
Bhardwaj, 
Flint 
senior and president of the Flint 
campus Student Government, 
also addressed the board about 
issues facing Flint students 
and the ways the University 
should support students across 
the three campuses. Bhardwaj 
urged the board to understand 
the unique challenges that 
many 
Flint 
students 
must 
overcome in order to get an 
education. 
“The story of a University 
of Michigan-Flint student is 
not the same as Ann Arbor, 
Dearborn 
or 
any 
other 
campuses,” Bhardwaj said. “On 
average, most of my student 
peers have two jobs or ... are 
involved in different projects 
or organizations that impact 
student life on campus. On 
top of that, our students have 
multiple 
demands 
on 
their 
time or resources. Many of our 
students are veterans, single 
parents, transfer students or 
nontraditional students over 
the age of 25.”
Bhardwaj asked the board 
to take steps to ensure Flint 
students feel included in the 
University system and have 
access 
to 
resources 
made 
available by the University. 
“So, the question stands: 
How does the University of 
Michigan provide for the needs 
of students in Flint?” Bhardwaj 
said. “How, as a University, do 
we think about the student who 
works two jobs, takes 18 credits, 
struggles 
with 
economic 
disadvantages and still has to 
go home and take care of their 
family? ... We are a different 
campus, and hence we have 
different needs.”
The 
remainder 
of 
the 
meeting was centered around 
23 finance agreements, all of 
which were approved by the 
board. A few of the agreements 
centered around renovations to 
University buildings, including 

a $9 million renovation to the 
A. Alfred Taubman Health Care 
Center. 
The 
public 
commentators 
then took the stage to address 
the Board of Regents and 
Schlissel, 
most 
of 
them 
speaking on behalf of the One 
University Campaign, which 
advocates for equal funding 
on 
the 
University’s 
three 
campuses.
Daniel 
Birchok, 
assistant 
professor of anthropology at 
the U-M Flint, argued some 
of the University’s initiatives 
to promote equality, such as 
the Go Blue Guarantee, don’t 
actually promote equity on all 
three campuses. 
“The public knows that you, 
the regents, have the resources 
to pursue equity for students 
on the U-M Flint and Dearborn 
campuses,” Birchok said. “But 
when you set aside 50 million 
dollars to education innovation 
that does not include the Go 
Blue Guarantee for Flint and 
Dearborn, 
something 
that 
would help our students avoid 
crushing debt, you send a 
message that your interest in 
equity is more about image than 
the well-being of students.”
Birchok 
said 
though 
students who attend U-M Flint 
and Dearborn may not be as 
wealthy as students on the Ann 
Arbor campus, they deserve 
the same level of education and 
opportunities. 
“Our staff, my colleagues 
and our community have not 
given up on a vision of equity 
that includes our students,” 
Birchok said. “Our students 
may not come from the wealth 
that many Ann Arbor students 
do, but they are of equal worth.”
LSA junior Solomon Medintz, 
who writes for The Daily’s 
opinion section, addressed the 
board regarding climate change 
during the public comment 
period. Medintz criticized the 
University for its investment in 
the fossil fuel industry and for 
arresting students for sitting 
in the Fleming Administration 

Building last March. 
“You should stop trying to 
throw 
students 
who 
speak 
out in jail,” Medintz said. “It’s 
absurd 
that 
students 
who 
peacefully sat in last March 
asking to schedule a one-hour 
public meeting with President 
Schlissel 
were 
arrested 
by 
University police and are still 
in and out of court rooms today. 
It is a stain on this University.”
Flint 
senior 
Brooklyn 
Golden, president of the Black 
Student Union, discussed how 
many students at U-M Flint 
are first-generation students 
or low-income students, and 
she said many of them feel like 
the University does not value 
their opinions. She noted the 
negative reputation U-M Flint 
has.
“Unfortunately, many of us 
have the feeling that the faculty 
and staff and administration 
at this University do not hear 
or value what students have 
to say,” Golden said. “There 
are three universities under 
the University of Michigan 
umbrella ... The University of 
Michigan-Flint is commonly 
known 
as 
the 
non-tuition 
university. The majority of our 
students fall under the category 
first-gen, commuter students, 
parents, transfer or low-income 
students.”
Golden concluded by saying 
that while the University says 
it prioritizes diversity, she and 
her peers often feel unwelcome 
on campus. 
“The University makes it a 
point to talk about diversity, 
equity and inclusion on campus 
without seeking any course 
of action to exemplify change 
for students of color,” Golden 
said. “It is a shame that in 2019, 
students of color on this campus 
share experiences of prejudice 
and derogatory remarks and 
actions from faculty, staff and 
even peers. Many students of 
color, 
particularly 
African-
American 
students, 
feel 
unwanted and out of place here 
at this University.”

REGENTS
From Page 1

Muse then transitioned to 
music, where he said catch 
phrases are a big part of pop 
culture, such as Megan Thee 
Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer.” 
After her song went viral, 
Muse said Stallion went to 
patent a copyright for her 
famous 
phrase 
and 
was 
successful. Muse emphasized 
the importance of Stallion 
being 
able 
to 
obtain 
a 
copyright due to a history of 
Black Americans being unable 
to in the post-slavery era. 
“The patent office, when 
it was created, Black folks 
could never get a patent for 
anything they did during the 
post-slavery 
days 
because 
they 
weren’t 
look 
at 
as 
citizens,” Muse said. “They 
weren’t viewed as having the 
ability to get a patent and they 

were viewed as (not) having 
intellect. So, if you didn’t have 
intellect, then you couldn’t be 
considered a U.S. citizen. And 
considering having intellect 
meant you had a patent.”
Rackham 
student 
Aloka 
Narayanan told The Daily she 
was interested in the policy 
involved in the copyrighting 
of “Hot Girl Summer” and 
other viral catch phrases.
“The copyrighting of ‘Hot 
Girl Summer,’ I didn’t know 
that had been done. I had 
heard about recent efforts to 
copyright ‘Taco Tuesday’ and 
some other big catch phrases,” 
Narayanan said. “I thought 
it was interesting that he 
introduced it as an intellectual 
copyrights issue. What we 
traditional see purely related 
to pop culture and cultural 
norms can also have public 
policy implications that we 
don’t typically think about.”
Muse also talked about 
the 
platform 
that 
sports 

players have and how that 
has turned political in recent 
years. For example, Daryl 
Morey, general manager of 
the Houston Rockets, posted 
in a now deleted tweet a 
statement supporting Hong 
Kong protestors and China 
responded by removing all 
events and coverage of the 
NBA in mainland China. 
“I think sports has a hell 
of a way of really moderating 
our discourse in ways that 
we don’t really think about 
it,” Muse said. “I encourage 
you 
when 
you’re 
doing 
your studies, think tanks, 
internships to think about the 
ways that sports could help 
elevate things you guys care.”
Public Policy senior Ethan 
Ramer told The Daily he 
thought the discussion around 
sports and public policy is 

RADIO
From Page 1

P O L I C Y T A L K S @ T H E F O R D S C H O O L

KATHY CRAMER 

Professor of Political 
Science at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison

Photo: Michelle Stocker, The Cap Times

CLOSU P LECT UR E S ER I ES 
Listening to 
Strengthen Democracy

HOSTED AS PART OF THE FORD SCHOOL'S CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DIFFERENCE INITIATIVE. 

Free and open to the public. 
Reception to follow. 

Information: 734-647-4091 or 
closup@umich.edu

@fordschool #policytalks

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 
4:00 - 5:30 pm

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall
735 S. State Street 

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com