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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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.
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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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See DEBATE, Page 3A