When 
LSA 
junior 
Fareah 
Fysudeen heard the University 
of Michigan would be hosting 
one of the presidential debates 
in the fall of 2020, she said she 
assumed it was for publicity. 
Upon thinking about it further, 
she felt like the University was 
not considering the potential 
impacts of this decision on 
marginalized communities. 
“It’s 
a 
way 
to 
establish 
ourselves as a good school and 
as the kind of school that would 
host such a presidential debate,” 
Fyusdeen said. “So, immediately 
I thought, oh, this is a self-
aggrandizing thing. It’s a way to 
get out there … my immediate 
second thought was, after I 
talked about it with other people 
who expressed concern, oh, that 
makes sense. This University is 

doing this for a namesake, and it 
is clear to me that they would not 
always consider the implications 
this would have on marginalized 
communities on campus.”
Since the announcement the 
University will be hosting the 
event, the University has held 
multiple town hall events to 
discuss student involvement and 
safety during the debate. 
In an interview with The Daily 
earlier this month, University 
President Mark Schlissel said the 
University would be extremely 
well-prepared in terms of safety 
for the community. 
“It’s not just our DPSS, but 
it’s state police, all the national 
security apparatus will be here,” 
Schlissel said. “It’ll probably 
be the safest place in America, 
physically.”
Schlissel also discussed how 
the debate might negatively 
impact students mentally due 

to the intensity of the current 
political climate. 
“I recognize that it’s going 
to be a stressful year because 
the body of politics is very 
polarized, and there’s a lot of fear 
mongering as part of the debate, 
and we’re all subject to that,” 
Schlissel said. “I think that it 
may be of more intensity because 
everyone is here in town, but 
I think it’s going to be pretty 
intense no matter what. We have 
CAPS.”
Christine Asidao, associate 
director 
of 
community 
engagement and outreach at 
Counseling and Psychological 
Services, 
said 
she 
is 
most 
concerned 
about 
potentially 
hateful incidents coming from 
people from outside of Ann 
Arbor visiting for the debate, 
making students generally feel 
more unsafe on campus.
“It really is more what are some 
of the protections associated 
with the debate,” Asidao said. 
“You know, we’ve seen it in 
the past with the previous 
election, things that might 
occur, like possible hate and 
bias incidents. That sense of 
just, you know, feeling unsafe 
psychologically as well as 
physically for some of our 
students.”
Fysudeen said elections 
in general tend to change 
the campus climate at the 
University and that hosting 
the 
debate 
will 
further 
increase the tension in the 
community. 
“Presidential 
elections 
themselves have a profound 
effect on the climate on 
campus, and I think (the 
debate) just raises the stakes 
so much higher,” Fysudeen 
said. “It turns up the heat, 
especially if we’re going to 
be an epicenter of the eye 
of the entire nation. I feel 
like people feel the need to 
perform or to respond or to be 
reactive, and so it heightens 
the 
tension 
that 
already 

exists 
when 
these 
elections 
happen, especially following the 
2016 election.”
Fysudeen 
continued 
by 
discussing 
how 
marginalized 
communities often most strongly 
feel the effects of this tension 
and have to respond or defend 
themselves.
“It just raises the stakes in 
a way that can be very hostile 
sometimes, and marginalized 
communities are usually the 
ones that take the blunt of that 
tension,” Fysudeen said. “And 
so people of color, people who 
aren’t represented, people who 
constantly have to be at the 
forefront of these things are just 
going to be put in places where 
they have to be or represent 
themselves or, you know, their 
mere existence is going to have to 
be defended.”
Indeed, 
LSA 
sophomore 
Julianna 
Collado, 
external 
director of La Casa, told The 
Daily in an email interview that 
the 
atmosphere 
surrounding 
debate will be difficult to predict, 
but it’s important to prepare 
communities for anything that 
might happen. 
““Even though it is a great 
opportunity, we are sensitive to 
the needs of our community on 
campus,”” Collado said. ““The 
Latinx community has been a 
target of Trump’s administration, 
right alongside many of the 
communities also represented 
on Michigan’s campus. Due to 
his rhetoric and others, people 
feel emboldened to express their 
racist and xenophobic sentiments 
as well. In many ways, we do 
not know what to expect from 
the Presidential Debate being 
on campus. We do know that 
there will be an increase in 
media, security, and people in 
general in Ann Arbor, which is 
unpredictable in and of itself. 
For this reason, we are already 
planning ahead to identify ways 
to support members of the Latinx 
community on U-M’s campus.” 

U NDE R THE MICROSCOPE

2A — Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
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THURSDAY:
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MONDAY:
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WEDNESDAY:
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EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

Campus groups worry political event will have negative psychological effects on students

Community discusses impact of ‘U’ 
hosting presidential debate in 2020

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‘U’ minority student enrollment reaches all-time record

Nov. 11, 1994
Asian American enrollment at the 
University increased 1 percent this 
year, according to fall enrollment 
figures released Wednesday the 
largest increase for a minority 
group since the Michigan Mandate 
began in 1987. With this increased 
enrollment, and slight increases in 
Black, Hispanic and Native American 
enrollment, more minority students 
now attend the University than ever 
before.
“The continued growth in the 
number of students of color is 
gratifying, since their presence 
enriches this campus,” University 
President James J. Duderstadt said 
in a statement. “But we have noted 
a trend toward slower growth in 

the numbers of African American 
students. I have asked the executive 
officers to concentrate on ways to 
improve our attraction and retention 
of African American students in the 
coming year.”
Since 1987, the University has 
worked 
to 
increase 
minority 
enrollment through the Michigan 
Mandate.
Minority students now account 
for 24.2 percent of all students – up 
from 15.4 percent in 1988. Last year, 
minority enrollment accounted for 
21.4 percent of all students.
But 
progress 
in 
minority 
enrollment slowed this year. Since 
1988, 
minority 
enrollment 
has 
increased by at least 460 students. 
This year, minority enrollment 

increased by only 349 students.
University spokeswoman Lisa 
Baker attributed this to increased 
competition for minority students. 
“Michigan has had a very good 
track record. You get increased 
competition and
that plays a factor,” she said. 
Asian American students account 
for the largest increase in minority 
enrollment, now 3,421, or 10.4 
percent of the student body, up from 
3,126, or 9.4 percent, last year.
“My hope would have been we 
could have equaled that number 
for African American students,” 
said Lester Monts, vice provost for 
academic and multicultural affairs.
Edgar Ho, chairperson of the 
United Asian American Organiza- 

tions, attributed the increase to the 
kinds of people applying.
“I think it’s probably just a natural 
result of the increased number of 
Asian Americans applying,” he said. 
“On the face of it, there’s nothing 
necessarily good or bad about it.”
Other minority groups also had 
increases in enrollment, but not 
nearly as high.
African Americans now number 
2,715, or 8.3 percent of the total 
enrollment, compared with 2,706, or 
8.1 percent, last year.
Hispanic student enrollment rose 
to 1,533, or4.7 percent of all students, 
up from 1,497, or 4.5 percent, last year. 
Enrollment for Native American 
students grew to 258, or 0.8 percent, 
this year, up from 249, or 0.7 percent, 

last year.
“As a part of the Michigan 
Mandate, this is a priority and 
it’s something we’re quite serious 
about,” Baker said. “It has involved 
the tireless efforts of many, including 
the highest level of the University, 
faculty, staff, faculty, alumni.”
The 
University’s 
increase 
in 
minorities has been the slowest for 
Black Students.
In 1988, Black and Asian American 
enrollment accounted for the same 
level of the student population – 
6.2 percent. The next year, Asian 
American 
enrollment 
surpassed 
Black enrollment, making them the 
largest minority group on campus.
Today there are 706 more Asian 
Americans than Black students on 

Campus.
Monts said the University needs 
to place a greater emphasis on its 
recruiting efforts to improve Black 
enrollment.
“I believe it’s going to take 
a 
concerted 
effort 
across 
the 
campus....I’m not pleased with the 
progress we’re making,” he said.
The University also has been 
less successful in retaining Black 
students.
For the entering class of 1987, 
65.1 percent of all Black students 
graduated 
within 
six 
years, 
compared with 85.4 percent for the 
University as a whole. For Asian 
Americans entering the University in 
1987, 88.2 percent graduated within 
six years.

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during 
the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is 
available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the 
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long 
subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription 
rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 

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