“On the front end, DePaul
was like, you can’t register
for classes, you don’t have the
funding.”
Russell
technically
owed
an additional 89 days to his
official service time in order
to receive the benefits. Since
he was a reservist, serving one
weekend per month, this meant
only
needing
6
additional
days of weekend service. The
Board for Correction of Naval
Records officials could change
his retirement date in their
records to make him eligible
again or waive his retirement
to allow him to complete the
six days of service. However,
they reviewed and rejected his
request, which Rusell said was
an arbitrary decision.
So, Paige transferred to
the University of Michigan,
where
she
had
received
scholarships and could benefit
from a lower cost of living.
She said she is still harassed
by private agencies, to whom
the government sold portions
of the debt, and carries the
emotional weight of her past.
“My family really struggled,
and my dad, he got deployed
again, and again, and again,”
she said. “And then it was like
now, the opportunity to go to
college after the emotional and
financial sacrifices, and then
that’s taken away, and now
I owe money back when I’m
just trying to do my best. I’m
just trying to get an education;
I’m just trying to be a first-
generation college student at
the University of Michigan.
All I did was show up to class.”
With a lack of success in
contacting
various
Navy
bureaus, Paige and her father
have both contacted several
representatives
to
find
support,
which,
according
to the two, have been most
effective after the Chicago
Sun-Times
article.
Paige
said a highlight was when
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-MI,
retweeted her story, a traction
which has motivated her to
reach out further to local
representatives.
“Ultimately,
moving
forward, I’m going to be
leveraging my coverage to
try to gain congressional and
senatorial support to try to
drive change,” she said. “And
hopefully along the way, I have
a GoFundMe page set up to try
to have resources for myself
and other families, as much
as I can contribute to them,
so that in the event that this
doesn’t change, it’s just not
done.”
Paige has also started a
GoFundMe page for other
children of veterans who have
had their GI bill rescinded and
for herself finding debt-relief
grants.
“I
feel
very
privileged
that I was on the face of this
issue, it feels like there’s
a
lot
of
responsibility
to
move it forward, and that’s
absolutely what I plan to do,”
Paige Dotson said. “Knowing
that there are other families
experiencing
it,
now
it’s
almost like a fight for me. This
is something that I absolutely
have to more forward with.”
Engineering
senior
John
Iacovetta is the vice president
of
Student
Veterans
of
America’s University chapter,
and has been following the
story closely. Iacovetta was
himself in the Navy for 10
years and is waiting to use his
GI bill for graduate school.
“My opinion is that this is
an admin issue, and that it’s
a
career
counseling
issue.
Every navy unit is supposed
to have a career counsellor
and they’re supposed to help
guide you through your navy
career, and help you with
advancement, retention and
then general opportunities to
really enhance your career,”
Iacovetta said.
Iacovetta said he believes
this is an issue of the Navy’s
administration
and
career
counseling office whose job is
to aid with advancement in the
industry.
“Additionally,
they’re
supposed to help you with your
transition out of the military,
and the other thing that they
help you with is transitioning
over your benefits to your
dependents. My experience
with
career
counsellors
has been that they are not
knowledgeable about this last
subset, being transitioning out
of the military or transferring
your benefits.”
Iacovetta worked as a career
counselor himself for a year
as a reservist, and said the job
was difficult, largely because
of the overly bureaucratic
system.
“It was hell because people
ask you all these questions
about,
literally
these
are
questions that are affecting
the rest of their lives, and more
often than not I did not know
what the answers were,” he
said. “But one thing about me
is that I have no problem just
telling people I don’t know the
answer, right, and we’re going
to go off to find the answer
from somebody who does, but
I think there are plenty of
people who do not prescribe to
that mindset, and are willing
to just rattle off whatever
answer gets them through the
day.”
Russell,
however,
emphasized there are many
entities involved, and reflected
on how he could have verified
the dates early on to avoid the
mistake.
“I’m not going to sit here
and put every bit of blame for
this on the military. One of
the military standard answers
is what the military does like
to say is your career, your
responsibility,” he said. “I
would tell somebody to trust
but verify if somebody is telling
them that they’ve completed
an obligation, or that they’ve
met all the requirements. I
would recommend that they
go talk to somebody else as
well, just for a second opinion
before they’ve made any life
changes based on that.”
Despite partial admission
of this mistake on his end,
Russell still has his GI bill, but
has no plans to use the money
himself. His family is still
holding out to hopefully fix
the mistake. Until then, they
continue to reach out for help.
“One of the things I’ve been
pointing out is my GI bill is
not gone, it’s still sitting right
where it always was,” Russell
said. “I could go use this GI bill
for myself today if I wanted to.
I’m not asking for money. The
money is already sitting there.
I’m simply asking to be able
to transfer the money to my
children.”
Meanwhile,
Paige
has
utilized
the
resources
at
the University to finish her
degree, thankful especially for
the support from faculty.
“Equally
among
both
schools, the faculty have been
probably
the
most
crucial
piece of my success,” she said.
“I do think the resources
provided on campus, either
through CAPS, or UHS, are so
important, using those tools
have helped me learn how to
kind of deal with it on more a
survival-based level. How do
you just get through the now,
and then we’ll worry about
that stuff in a minute.”
back and forth, but not
making fun of it in a way
that includes a national
tragedy and that heavily
impacted survivors.”
Lovely said she was not
expecting the tweet to get
the reaction that it did,
but said she hopes it will
start a conversation about
how survivors should be
treated.
“I think it would be
great if there was some
education on the history
of the case and what the
survivors went through,”
Lovely
said.
“I
know
there were victim impact
statements that were bad
at the trial, that would
be a really great place to
start.”
Lovely
was
not
the
only person responding
negatively to the banner
online. Replies to Lovely’s
original tweet called the
banner “disgusting” and
“classless.”
Olympic
gymnast
Simone Biles retweeted
the tweet, writing she
hopes
the
University
takes proper measures in
investigating the banner.
In an email to The Daily,
University
spokesperson
Kim
Broekhuizen
said
Fraternity and Sorority
Life
staff
contacted
the
chapter
president
and
advisors
of
the
University’s Psi Upsilon
chapter.
Complaints
against the chapter have
been submitted by campus
community
members
to the Greek Activities
Review Panel, according
to Broekhuizen. She said
the matter was addressed
swiftly and appropriately
by the fraternity involved
and its national office.
“FSL
has
learned
that the chapter will be
pursuing corrective action
for
those
responsible
for hanging the banners
and those who failed to
intervene before anyone
could
be
negatively
impacted,”
Broekhuizen
wrote.
Additionally,
Broekhuizen
wrote
that
FSL
supports
students
in
their
four
councils
to
live
more
fully into the principles
of
their
international
organizations,
campus
core values and the FSL
Statement
for
Human
Dignity.
LSA
junior
Mary
McKillop,
LSA
Student
Government
vice
president,
first
became
aware of the banner after
seeing
Lovely’s
tweet.
She said she thought the
banner was unnecessary
and hurtful to see.
“I
think
it’s
really
disappointing
and
sad
that the survivors of that
situation
were
turned
into
a
joke
for
some
stupid football rivalry,”
McKillop
said.
“School
rivalries are supposed to
be fun, and that just really
went somewhere it didn’t
need to go.”
McKillop said she thinks
Psi Upsilon should release
a public apology and be
punished for hanging up
the banner.
“A lot of people I know
are personally upset by
(the banner),” McKillop
said. “I can only imagine
what being involved in
that situation and seeing
that would feel like.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 — 3
VETERAN
From Page 1
BANNER
From Page 1
She
said
they
plan
on
implementing the application
process
in
several
phases.
The first phase, which they
are currently in, is inviting
Michigan
residents
to
randomly serve on the 13
member
commission.
The
second phase begins in June,
when
applications
close.
200
semi-finalists
will
be
randomly
selected
using
geographic and demographic
data,
ensuring
four
Republicans, four Democrats
and five unaffiliated voters
are selected. Phase three will
begin in fall 2020 when the
committee is seated and will
end in the fall of 2021 when the
redistricting is complete.
“The
commission,
once
seated, will have one year from
next fall to draw the maps that
will be the next congressional,
state
legislative
and
state
senate districts for the entire
state,” Benson said.
Wang then began the panel
discussion with a question
for panelist Chris Lamar, the
legal counsel for redistricting
with
the
Campaign
Legal
Center in Washington, D.C..
Lamar mentioned the relative
commonality of the COI and
the importance of its use in
this context.
“The idea of COIs, while it
sounds nebulous, is actually
not a rare thing,” Lamar said.
“Twenty four states consider
COIs in various aspects. COIs
generally include racial, social,
economic
considerations…
COIs
do
not
include
relationships
to
political
parties or to incumbents. And
that’s very important to me.”
Wang’s next question was for
panelist Connie Malloy, chair
of the 2010 California Citizens
Redistricting
Commission.
Wang
asked
Malloy
about
her experience as a part of
California’s
commission.
Malloy
emphasized
the
crucial
role
commission
members play in offering more
humanized information about
a community.
“There’s
so
much
the
census
does
not
tell
you
about a community,” Malloy
said. “It doesn’t give you
any information about the
economy, the geography, or
the history of a place. And
that is something where the
testimony
from
the
public
and your lived experience is
really critical to be able to
inform how the commission
takes these dry numbers and
statistics from the census and
makes it come alive into a set of
fair maps that make sense for
the community.”
Panelist
Christopher
Thomas,
former
director
of elections for the State of
Michigan, then weighed in
by comparing the old Apol
Standards of redistricting to
the new standards set in 2018.
“So (the Apol standards)
looked at jurisdictional lines,”
Thomas said. “So after you
did the federal population
and Voting Rights Act, and
contiguity,
you
then
drew
a plan that split the fewest
number of county lines, and
that within those counties,
split the fewest number of city
and township lines. It sounded
really neutral. There’s some
consideration that it really
didn’t turn out that neutral.”
Wang then asked Malloy
to explain in more detail the
concept of drawing boundaries
that align with community
lines.
Malloy
explained
that the California Citizens
Redistricting
Commission
gave equal priority to city,
county and COI lines, but that
this often came with trade-offs
between them.
“Given
how
rarely
jurisdictional
boundaries
change,” Malloy said. “There’s
times
where
they
don’t
actually reflect the fabric of
the community that has grown
out organically around them.”
Malloy further explained
the process through which the
California Commission took
public opinion into account.
“We had a set of (public)
hearings,” she said. “(And we
had) live visualizations that
were
always
live-streamed
or people could weigh in as
we were actually in the map-
making process.”
Wang
asked
Benson
to
elaborate on the Michigan
Commission’s
actual
process of redistricting. She
emphasized
the
autonomy
of
the
commission
within
Constitutional
bounds
and
the
importance
of
citizen
participation.
“The commission will be
autonomous. Our office will
be focused on the citizen
engagement component of this
effort,” Benson said. “I think,
at every point, it will be the
voices of citizens who lead the
way.”
Information
graduate
student Bonnie White believes
this is a positive initiative.
“Prior to being a student
I
wasn’t
aware
(of)
the
extent
that
Michigan
was
gerrymandered,” White said.
“I think it’s a testament to the
citizens of Michigan, that it’s
voters and politicians, that
the program has been so well-
received,
and
implemented.
It’s
just
really
impressive.
The impact that they’ve had
state-wide. And I think it’s
wonderful that citizens are
being able to participate in
democracy in this way.”
REDISTRICTING
From Page 1
This is the idea that
reproductive justice
as a movement
was born out of
the strife of Black
women. and
bringing people
into the center of
this conversation
who currently exist
on the margins.
Senate Assembly talks new
sexual misconduct policy
Faculty meet to vote on issue, but do not have quorum
The University of Michigan
Faculty
Senate
Assembly
met Monday to discuss and
vote to implement the new
umbrella sexual misconduct
policy.
However,
because
they didn’t have a quorum,
they were unable to vote on
any of the issues. Instead,
the
Senate
Assembly
and
Faculty attending the meeting
discussed questions regarding
the policy.
In response to a third-
party review of past sexual
misconduct
procedures,
the new policy would apply
to the Dearborn, Flint and
Ann Arbor campuses of the
University.
Sascha
Matish,
associate vice provost and
senior director of Academic
Human Resources, mentioned
the new document is very
similar to existing policies
regarding sexual misconduct
at the University.
“They largely codify what
we already have in place,”
Matish
said.
“It’s
putting
basically our policies and
procedures that existed in
a large number of places
into one policy into the two
procedures,
the
employee
procedures, as well as the
student procedures.”
The new policy redefines
prohibited
conduct,
which
now includes sexual assault,
sexual exploitation, sexual
harassment,
gender-based
harassment,
sexual
and/
or
gender-based
stalking,
intimate
partner
violence,
sex
and
gender-based
discrimination,
retaliation
and violation of protective
measures.
Several faculty members
asked questions regarding the
differences,
inconsistencies
and overlap between faculty
and employees within the
policy. A few staff comments
targeted
how
this
new
umbrella is a consolidation
of
existing
policies.
LSA
professor Marjorie Levinson
focused on how the new
umbrella policy could be an
opportunity to innovate and
create more fair practices.
“Why did you undertake so
modest of a task as to simply
codify the existing practice
when we’re all aware of the
need
for
implementing
a
much more sensitive and fair-
minded practices is widely
felt?” Levinson asked.
In an attempt to comply
with a ruling from the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals that
requires students on both
sides of a sexual misconduct
policy to cross-examine each
other while still protecting
students
from
emotional
hardship,
Prof.
Barry
Belmont, the chairperson of
the Committee on Civil Rights
and
Liberties,
proposed
a resolution to have third
parties speak for students
during cross-examination.
“(We’d like) to have cross-
examination but not to have
it by a respondent directly
questioning a complainant,”
Belmont said. “But by having
an advisor acting on either
behalf or some representative
hearing officer to serve in
that cross-examination.”
The Senate Assembly voted
in favor of the resolution, but
because they didn’t have a
quorum the vote was invalid.
ISABELLA PREISSLE
For The Daily
“One of the things about
being pregnant or trying
to
become
pregnant
is
infertility services are hard
cover,” O’Connor said. “You
can lose your job because
you’re pregnant. Not legally,
but if you are late two or
three times in the morning
because you are throwing
up, then you can lose your
job, which means you lose
your health insurance if you
have it through your job.
If we move to a system of
universal health insurance,
some of those fears go
away.”
Peterson
identified
issues
with
some
high
schools’
sex
education
programs that don’t offer
a sexual education course
that
incorporates
sex
and not just abstinence.
Peterson
finds
this
most
detrimental
for
communities with a lack of
access to other educational
resources due to economic
framework
or
systemic
racial oppression.
“One of the things that
I think is really pressing
is
quite
frankly,
sex
education
and
consent,”
Peterson said. “Based on
sex, I think that you need to
start at the very beginning
of training people how
to have healthy or sexual
conversations
before
we
even start the reproducing
part. So things as simple
as a push for abstinence-
only education will have a
snowball effect.”
Jones-McBryde
mentioned some ways she
is trying to help foster
reproductive
justice
at
Planned
Parenthood
for
Black women.
“I was able to have our
first training for our health
center
staff
about
the
African Diaspora, what it
actually is and talk about
how there is implicit bias
in the way that we treat
our
patients
sometimes,
and how to dismantle that,”
Jones-McBryde said.
Emily
Statham,
first-
year
Law
student,
said
the University can help
foster reproductive justice
and
inclusiveness
by
emphasizing the margin-
to-center movement.
“I really liked one of
the ideas mentioned about
focusing on the margin-to-
center movement,” Statham
said. “So, this is the idea
that reproductive justice as
a movement was born out of
the strife of Black women,
and bringing people into the
center of this conversation
who currently exist on the
margins. Whether, that be
people who are LGBTQIA+
identifying, people who are
racial and ethnic minorities,
making
sure
that
their
own
struggles
when
it
comes
to
reproductive
justice are informing the
conversation, not reacting
to the conversation, is I
think the most important
thing moving forward.”
REPRODUCTIVE
From Page 1