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Thursday, November 21, 2019 — 3
Arab Student Association, Period
host panel on reproductive health
Panelists focus on own experiences, discuss stigmatized issues as part of Focus Week
BRAYDEN HIRSCH
For The Daily
Through an effort to end
the stigma around periods,
the Arab Student Association
and Period collaborated to
hold a panel where four people
from
various
backgrounds
were given the opportunity
to talk about their encounters
with reproductive health on
Wednesday. About 30 students
attended the event. ASA is
currently holding a week-long
program called Focus Week,
where the goal is to talk about
the stigmatized issues facing
their communities.
Public Policy senior, Arwa
Gayar, co-president of ASA,
played a large role in putting
the panel together.
“We
thought
that
this
was particularly important
because
menstrual
health
and
reproductive
health
are seen as taboo in our
culture, but it really affects a
woman of color, particularly
Arab
refugees,
and
they
are
disproportionately
marginalized, not just from
their identity, but also their
status
as
immigrants
and
refugees,” Gayar said. “So
understanding their access
to
reproductive,
menstrual
health and is very important
to look at it through the lens
of those identities.”
The
panel
consisted
of
four
women
of
varying
backgrounds. Public Health
graduate
student
Ashley
Rapp discussed her point-
of-view on menstrual and
reproductive health of her
family from Iraq and being the
founder of Period.
“Primarily, at least for a
lot of the people that came to
America, one of our biggest
issues is that even though
people are coming through,
they’re able to access things
like food stamps, and different
things like that,” Rapp said.
“There’s a lot of difficulty
that even some of my relatives
are
having
with
having
access to, you know, things
that are more than that. So
that’s going to be things like
menstrual products, but also
different things to help their
reproductive care.”
Another
organization
that played a large role in
the planning of this panel
was Period. Period is an
organization centered around
service
and
education
for
women. Public Health junior
Swathi
Komarivelli
also
helped plan this event. The
panel
was
a
continuation
of
Period’s
product
drive
where they collected over
15,000 products for people in
Southeast Michigan.
“We just want to have this
panel because we want to have
an educational background
behind the drive,” Komarivelli
said. “Most people realize that
they face disparate conditions,
but, going into specifics was
the idea behind this.”
Each member on the panel
was given the opportunity
to
talk
about
challenges
they have faced in terms of
menstrual and reproductive
health. Public Health senior
Umaima Abbasi is a green
card holder and was able to
tell her story as well.
“I do have some experiences
like when you’re going around
the healthcare system, so I
actually was uninsured up
until two weeks ago… But
it’s kind of hard to navigate
around a system that wasn’t
initially created for you to
be here,” Abbasi said. “So
three weeks ago, I got a really
terrible
bacterial
infection
and I didn’t know how to go
about it, like I didn’t know
where I can find care, and also
culturally competent care.”
LSA senior Tala Al-Saghir,
president of Students Organize
for Syria, was another member
of the panel. Al-Saghir is
currently applying to medical
school and was able to provide
more of a medically-based
perspective on the importance
of menstrual and reproductive
care.
“For a lot of refugees,
the primary needs, like the
emergency needs are shelter,
water, food and education
for their children,” Al-Saghir
said.
“So
you
see
that
reproductive health and a lot
of health issues overall just
kind of get pushed to the side.”
LSA senior Ayah Kutmah
talked about the importance
of normalizing some of these
tough, yet important topics.
“Breaking
that
cultural
stigma is very hard, but it
can
definitely
start
with
having those uncomfortable
conversations,
especially
within communities that you
identify with,” Kutmah said.
Overseeing
the
Vision
Zero
project,
City
Transportation
Manager
Eli
Cooper
coordinated
the event, which was one
of three total open houses
planned. Larcom’s lobby
presented two interactive
displays. One wall hosted
posters of five Ann Arbor
locations;
underneath
each,
community
members
ranked
how
they prioritized the four
transportation options of
biking,
walking,
transit
and vehicle.
“These
specific
(locations) are similar to
other roads in the city — or
streets — that have similar
characteristics,”
Cooper
said.
“The
opportunity
is to gain a general sense
of what the public feels
about the priorities for
the various modes by the
different
characteristics
for the corridors.”
Across
from
the
ranking posters, AECOM
Transportation
Planner
Sarah Lagpacan facilitated
an activity to find out
what community members
consider the city’s safest
biking
areas.
A
wall-
length poster displayed a
map of Ann Arbor streets,
highlighting
biker-
friendly areas in green.
Markers were provided for
community
members
to
draw in where they felt this
network needs to expand.
“We’re not going into
this with any expectations
of what we’ll hear but
really wanting to see what
people say,” Lagpacan said.
Through the project, the
city is looking to provide
a guiding document for
Ann
Arbor’s
current
transportation
policies
by the summer of 2020.
If successful, Ann Arbor
will be the first Vision
Zero City in Michigan,
joiningAustin, New York
City,
Philadelphia
and
others. To qualify, each
city must have a clear
goal to eliminate traffic
fatalities
and
severe
injuries, an official public
commitment by the mayor
to Vision Zero and key city
departments
engaged
in
the effort.
“Transportation
as
a
system responds to the
demands of the users and
by
engaging
with
our
citizens that are the folks
traveling around the city,”
Cooper said.
Using both transit and
biking, Valdez has plans to
follow upcoming changes
in the Vision Zero project.
“A lot of times you find
out as the thing is being
built or not really informed
along
the
way,”
Valdez
said. “I’m just trying to get
more informed during the
planning stages and find
out what exactly is going
on.”
Keeping
community
members engaged in the
project is exactly what
Cooper aims to do.
“It’s not that we have a
group of planners off in an
office figuring out what’s
best,” Cooper said. “We’re
actually listening to what
the publics’ interest and
values
are,
where
they
would like to see progress.
The open house allows
people to come in and learn
about the project, where
we are in the process, but
we
are
also
collecting
information
from
them
that we will use to shape
the
direction
of
where
we’re going.”
TRANSPORTATION
From Page 1
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Daniel
Genkin,
electrical
engineering
and
computer
science
assistant professor, also
worked on the project and
pointed out most people
think
of
sound
rather
than light in regards to
a
microphone,
Genkin
said the vulnerabilities in
virtual assistants that let
light commands control
them
could
potentially
create a serious safety
issue.
“The
system
that
responds
to
sound
actually
delivers
the
system that responds to
sound and light,” Genkin
said.
“Every
time
you
have this gap, you have a
security problem … When
you think about those
gaps, and where we need
to map them out, then we
need to think, what are
the implications and how
do we close them?”
Using light commands,
an
individual
could
easily
have
access
to
unlock doors, go online
shopping
using
the
target’s
information
or
unlock and start a vehicle
connected to the target’s
device, Cyr said.
LSA
sophomore
Kat
Black uses an Amazon
Alexa at home. She said
the results of the study
show light commands can
be a serious threat.
“There
have
been
several times where our
Alexa at home kind of
malfunctioned and that
was unprompted,” Black
said. “I think if someone
is deliberately trying to
alter its functioning, it’s
very possible.”
Cyr
said
the
team
reached out to Amazon
and
Google
to
inform
them
of
the
security
issues
light
commands
may cause. They also plan
to reach out to Facebook
and
other
microphone
manufacturers
to
help
them find ways to fix this
vulnerability.
“Our goal is to make
sure that people know
what can be done to the
sensors
currently
and
then to find solutions so
that people can trust the
sensors,” Cyr said.
As for now, Cyr said
those who have a virtual
assistant in their home
should keep them away
from windows and areas
where
they
could
be
easily accessible from the
outside.
The research team also
included EECS professor
Kevin Fu and postdoctoral
student Sara Rampazzi
from the University as
well as Takeshi Sugawara
from the University of
Electro-Communications
in Tokyo.
HACKING
From Page 1
“The reality is, when
you are out in public, you
do not necessarily expect
to
be
identified
and
tracked across a series
of
cameras,”
Calabrese
said. “And you do not
expect that record to be
kept indefinitely. It is a
different type of use of
the technology. And it
changes our assumptions
about what privacy looks
like
for
the
average
citizen.”
Despite the cautionary
commentary provided by
Calabrese earlier in the
lecture, he also pointed
out the benefits of the
technology.
“You
can
imagine
that maybe there is a
photo that might be held
somewhere in your social
network
that
can
be
cross-referenced to find a
missing child,” Calabrese
said.
Calabrese
explained
facial
recognition
technology
also
has
everyday
implications.
For
example,
social
media platforms use it
to suggest friends and
make connections based
on images uploaded by
users.
When
talking
about how the ordinary
citizen
is
impacted
by
the
technology,
Calabrese emphasized the
importance of regulation
and consent.
“The first thing we need
to talk about is consent…
it can be so easy to create
a face template from a
photo,”
Calabrese
said.
“After consent is obtained,
transparency
will
then
allow
people
to
know
what facial recognition
will be used for.”
For
the
second
half
of
the
talk,
Shobita
Parthasarathy, professor
of
Public
Policy
and
Women’s
Studies
and
director of the Science,
Technology
and
Public
Policy
program,
joined
Calabrese to talk about
accuracy and bias of the
technology.
He
explained
the
accuracy
of
facial
recognition
technology
can vary depending on
the conditions upon the
capturing of the image,
especially if the subject
is within complete field
of view or if lighting
conditions are optimal.
Parthasarathy
also
noted facial recognition is
less accurate for people of
color.
“I think it is important
to
point
out
that
the
technology
is
most
accurate among white men
and then it degrades in
accuracy,” Parthasarathy
said.
In an interview with
The Daily, LSA sophomore
Sujin Kim explained the
relevance of the lecture
to University of Michigan
students.
“I
think
addressing
the
relevant
bias
in
the technology is very
important,” Kim said. “It
addressed
the
inherent
bias of the technology
that someone might not
necessarily know about if
it wasn’t brought to their
attention.”
TECHNOLOGY
From Page 1
Posters reflected similar
messages, and one poster
had a quote from a fireside
chat given by University
President Mark Schlissel
earlier in the year: “We
thought… it might be less
traumatizing to have a peer
ask questions of another
peer.”
Similar messages were
written in chalk around the
Diag.
The activists chanted
various
slogans,
such
as: “Join the chain, this
policy’s
insane,”
“We
reject the administration’s
disrespect,” “Say it loud,
say it clear: no perpetrator
is our peer,” and “Hey hey,
ho ho, direct questioning
has got to go.”
LSA junior Elyas Perry
said he joined the chain in
part because of his friend
who has suffered similar
trauma.
“I’ve
experienced
firsthand how neglectful
some of these policies that
the
University
has
can
be,” Perry said. “With the
addition of this policy here,
where
perpetrators
can
actually
cross-examine
victims face-to-face. I have
a little bit more perspective
on how damaging that can
be.”
One of the protesters’
primary demands was to
require attorneys to conduct
the
cross-examination,
not the respondents and
claimants
themselves.
Previous responses to the
issue from administration is
that it raises issues of equity
and
accessibility
with
students unable to afford
attorneys. In an interview
with
The
Daily
earlier
this
month,
E.
Royster
Harper, vice president for
student life, said bringing
in attorneys would create
mini-court
scenes
on
campus and the “last thing”
administration wants to do
is perpetuate the broken
system of handling sexual
misconduct cases.
To resolve this problem,
the
protestors
believe
the
University
has
a
responsibility
to
cover
hourly attorney costs for
the duration of the cross-
examination, rather than
turning
to
peer-to-peer
questioning.
“Unfortunately, when you
have
cross-examination
in
university
sexual
misconduct cases, it will be
like a courtlike procedure.
There’s nothing we can do
about that,” Sandberg said.
“All they can do is try to
make the procedure as good
as it can be and the current
policy that they have is
unimaginable.
Anything
would be better than the
current policy.”
Medical student Solomon
Rajput, who is currently
challenging
U.S.
Rep.
Debbie
Dingell,
D-Ann
Arbor,
for
her
seat
in
Congress,
attended
the
event and said the turnout
shows the importance of
challenging
the
sexual
assault policy.
“There
are
so
many
people
who’ve
decided
they’re going to take the
time out of their busy
schedule in order to take a
stance on this issue,” Rajput
said. “You can’t just do
what’s convenient or what
is going to be polite in order
to see the change that you
want to happen.”
Claire Hao contributed
to this story.
CHAIN
From Page 1
The event was moderated
by Business junior Riya
Gupta
and
LSA
junior
Shivani
Bhargava,
who
asked the panelists two
questions, and then opened
the
floor
for
audience
questions. The questions
were centered on problems
challenging
sustainability
and how much individuals’
decisions, such as to be
vegan or vegetarian, have
an impact on the food
industry.
Lilly Shapiro, Sustainable
Food
Systems
Initiative
project
manager,
echoed
other
panelists
about
the current level of food
production and the excess
that goes to waste.
“We grow more than
enough food to feed the
world and we do not need
more industrial farming to
feed the world,” Shapiro
said. “The issues are equity
and distribution. The issue
is not production.”
On the topic of individual
impact, the panelists agreed
individual actions can make
a difference. Shapiro also
explained individuals are
only one part of the puzzle,
and there needs to be a
focus on sustainability from
leaders in the industry as
well.
Jeremy
Moghtader,
program
manager
for
the Campus Farm at the
University, spoke of human
behavior tendencies to do
what
is
convenient
and
encouraged
industry
to
use this psychology for the
better.
“You design a system
that makes it so that people
follow the path of least
resistance to the better
outcome,” Moghtader said.
“It’s both about personal
choice and the environment
in which we make those
personal choices.”
The event concluded with
an exercise to physically
represent individual’s daily
greenhouse
gas
carbon
footprint. The organizers
gave each audience member
a balloon and asked them to
blow air into it to correspond
to how damaging foods they
eat are to the environment.
The
organizers
posted
common food items on the
board, and the equivalent
puffs of air for each one.
LSA
junior
Elana
Weberman
said
she
liked
how
the
activity
represented
personal
consumption habits.
“It’s really important to
participate in events that
U of M puts on that focus
on sustainability because
there’s so much that we can
do and continue to learn
about,” Weberman said. “In
order to make a difference
in the field of sustainability,
it’s important for every
individual to do their part.
Also it’s really important to
have this cultural change,
these behavioral changes
where people come together
to make a difference.”
Gupta said she learned
so much in organizing the
event and was very happy
with
the
turnout.
She
emphasized
the
balloon
activity seemed to have an
impact on attendees.
“We really wanted to find
something that’s relevant to
the U-M community right
now that students really
care about and the Ann
Arbor
community
could
really care about,” Gupta
said. “Sustainable business
is something our whole
team was excited about.
We just dove headfirst into
it. We think it’s a really
relevant topic that needs to
have more awareness built
around it.”
FOOD
From Page 1