The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 — 3A

When 
asked 
whether 
it was the actions of the 
Trump administration or 
the actions of previous 
administrations 
that 
had more impact on the 
current 
relationship, 
Shirk 
said 
that 
the 
administrations of former 
Presidents Barack Obama, 
Bill Clinton and George 
Bush have caused current 
tensions between China 
and the United States. 
Shirk 
furthered 
her 
argument, 
saying 
she 
believes 
previous 
administrations 
had 
tried 
to 
stabilize 
tensions between the two 
countries and, at the same 
time, protect American 
interests.
Public Policy graduate 

student Mathew Rigdon 
told The Daily after the 
event he enjoyed listening 
to Shirk’s analysis of the 
geopolitical 
situation 
between the United States 
and China. 
“It 
was 
interesting 
to 
hear 
her 
take 
on 
both 
the 
Chinese 
and 
American overreactions, 
or 
types 
of 
opinions 
we can hold about each 
other’s 
countries 
that 
are not exactly accurate, 
especially 
from 
the 
American side,” Rigdon 
said. 
He said he felt Shirk was 
optimistic about Chinese 
expansive 
economic 
power in regard to their 
territorial interests. 
LSA freshman Justin 
Scott told The Daily he 
didn’t know much about 
the current relationship 
between the two countries 

prior to attending the 
lecture. 
“So 
personally, 
I 
didn’t come to the event 
with 
a 
very 
strong 
understanding 
of 
U.S-
China relations, but now 
I’ve realized it’s more 
tense than I previously 
thought. It might end up 
getting worse,” Scott said.
Ultimately, Shirk urged 
people 
concerned 
with 
the tensions between the 
United States and China 
to take a level-headed 
approach to the situation. 
“Calm down and think 
rationally about how to 
compete with China in 
a way that builds upon 
the 
advantages 
of 
our 
system,” Shirk said.

RELATIONS
From Page 1A

From 
engaging 
with 
students on North Campus 
in advocacy for resource 
improvements, to hydrating 
the 
student 
body 
each 
game-day, Isabelle has been 
a dedicated and selfless 
leader in her role.”
CSG is in the process 
of selecting a new vice 
president, 
who 
will 
be 
approved by the Executive 
Nominations 
Committee 
before being subjected to 
a vote of confirmation by 
the 
Assembly. 
Gerstein’s 
statement guaranteed CSG 
will 
select 
a 
candidate 
qualified to take on the role 
of vice president. 
“As 
your 
President, 
I 
want to assure the student 
body that our commitment 
always resides in creating 
an 
environment 
where 
students can be successful 
and 
pursue 
continued 
betterment of our campus,” 
Gerstein’s 
statement 
continues. “I have no doubt 
that the candidate selected 
will do just that.”
The 
Assembly 
also 
approved Law student Henry 
Zurn as chief justice of the 
Central Student Judiciary, 
the 
judicial 
branch 
of 
CSG, 
and 
Engineering 
freshman Braden Crimmins 
as associate chief justice. 
Zurn spoke regarding the 
importance 
of 
working 
toward greater continuity 
in the elections of CSJ 
members. 
“The 
Central 
Student 
Judiciary has had some 
problems in the past with 
turnover and continuity, so 
it’s particularly important 
that in this last round of 
confirmations, we had a 
good diversity both within 
academic degree granting 
units and within age of 
students or time left here 
at the University,” Zurn 
said. “It’ll be my priority 
and the priority of the 
associate chief nominee to 
keep 
everything 
running 
smoothly, and to facilitate 
that, 
it’s 
particularly 
important that we have clear 
lines of authority and clear 

lines of continuity within 
the student judiciary.”
The Assembly discussed 
and approved a resolution 
regarding CSG’s financial 
procedures. The resolution 
provides 
clear 
fiscal 
semesters, ensures a budget 
determines what funds are 
allocated, and eliminates 
some 
budgetary 
limits 
considered 
unnecessary. 
The resolution passed by 
unanimous consent. 
The 
Assembly 
next 
discussed 
a 
resolution 
to run a pilot program 
in 
the 
winter 
semester 
for 
a 
CSG-funded 
test 
preparation program. The 
proposed program would 
employ students who have 
succeeded 
on 
graduate 
school entrance exams such 
as the LSAT, MCAT or GRE, 
to tutor undergraduates at a 
cost lower than typical test 
preparation courses. The 
end goal of the program 
is to be presented to the 
University and eventually 
become a service provided 
by the University.
The resolution is similar 
to 
testing 
preparation 
services 
previously 
provided by the University 
Career Center. According 
to 
LSA 
sophomore 
Sam 
Braden, the sponsor of the 
resolution, one reason the 
program ended came from a 
desire to maintain a positive 
relationship with outside 
preparation services after 
the University was accused 
of violating copyright laws 
in their tutoring services. 
Braden 
said 
the 
University Career Center 
recommended 
CSG 
approach existing sources, 
such 
as 
Kaplan 
or 
the 
Princeton 
Review, 
and 
subsidize access to their 
services 
for 
students. 
Braden said he did not want 
to support the high prices, 
ranging between roughly 
$1,500 and $2,500, such 
sources 
charge 
for 
test 
preparation courses. 
“We 
didn’t 
like 
the 
thought of subsidizing a cost 
that, in and of itself, should 
not be this high,” Braden 
said. “It’s obvious that they 
don’t need to be charging 
this much — Kaplan and 

Princeton make immense 
profits off of these.”
Some Assembly members 
questioned 
the 
proposed 
program’s ability to provide 
tutoring services as high 
quality as more reputable 
testing 
preparation 

providers. 
Others 
also 

expressed 
concerns 

about the possibilities of 
bringing lawsuits against 
CSG or future tutors from 
such providers who could 
argue tutors who had once 
studied 
their 
materials 
could use the knowledge 
they acquired from their 
companies to tutor others. 
Jack 
Wroldsen, 
student 
general counsel, said he 
had brought the case to a 
certified bar attorney, who 
felt a lawsuit was plausible.
“He does think because 
of 
the 
intellectual 
property 
and 
copyright 
law, Kaplan or Princeton 
Review or whoever would 
have a strong case for it,” 
Wroldsen said. “He also 
said, regardless if there is 
or there isn’t, and I have to 
agree with him, why would 
we want to put ourselves in 
any sort of position to have 
to deal with a lawsuit at 
all?” 
Braden maintained that 
because the program would 
not use textbooks registered 
with any testing agency, 
and because he believes 
any 
lawsuit 
would 
be 
unfounded, the resolution 
should 
proceed 
for 
the 
benefit of students who do 
not have the opportunity 
to pay for expensive testing 
services. 
As a result, the resolution 
was 
referred 
to 
the 
Resolutions 
and 
Rules 
Committees 
for 
further 
consideration.
The 
Assembly 
next 

approved 
another 

procedural 
resolution, 
which 
passed 
with 
unanimous 
consent, 
and 
a 
resolution 
to 
award 
financial 
aid 
to 
socio-
economically disadvantaged 
CSG members for their time. 
The resolution passed with 
12 in favor, six abstentions, 
and zero against. 

RESIGNATION
From Page 1A

After sharing her story, 
Whitmer received countless 
emails, 
calls 
and 
written 
letters 
from 
Michigan 
residents thanking her for 
voicing a story so many of them 
shared but hadn’t told anyone 
about. She acknowledged that 
at the time when her assault 
occurred, she was completely 
unaware 
of 
any 
resources 
that were available to her in 
college, so she hopes to create 
pathways of conversation and 
change in society and college 
campuses. 
Following 
the 
keynote 
speech, the summit featured 
a four-person panel on sexual 
assault’s 
representation 
in 
the media and on college 
campuses, 
and 
how 
that 
affects survivors. One of the 
panelists, ESPN investigative 
reporter Paula Lavigne, said 
although schools are taking 
action on sexual assault cases, 
measuring change made in 
each institution should be 
based on its effect on other 
survivors. 
“The better way to measure 
that is to measure it based 
on the effect it has on other 
survivors,” 
Lavigne 
said. 
“Did writing about this, did 
sharing this woman’s story, 
did exposing this institution’s 
failures, did that encourage 
at least one other survivor to 
come forward? And I think if 
you look at that as a measure 
— did it have an effect? Did it 
affect change? I think in that 
sense you can say, ‘absolutely 
yes.’” 
Lavigne 
then 
explained 
how the popularity of the 
story affects the probability 
of survivors coming forward 
and also provides more sexual 
assault awareness.
“Obviously, there is more 
pressure, 
there 
is 
more 

awareness when it is a big 
story,” she said. “… But it’s 
hard, because it’s very case 
by case. It depends on who 
the audience is, what kind of 
support you’re getting from 
people hearing your message, 
and in the willingness of the 
institution or the company or 
whatever it is to take that next 
step and to make that change.”
Venkayla Haynes, a panelist 
and 
survivor 
of 
sexual 
assault, 
said 
she 
believes 
when the media covers sexual 
assault, it tends to lack in its 
representation 
of 
minority 
groups. 
“I can’t actually say that 
the media is doing everything 
really well,” Haynes said. “I 
need to remember that this 
movement is for me and that 
the media is not the movement. 
The grassroot organizing the 
missions that develop on the 
ground is the real movement. 
And I think when we talk 
about the media, and we talk 
about sexual violence, we 
don’t see the voices of Black 
women. We don’t see the 
voices of non-binary folks, 
trans folks, queer folks.” 
Another panelist, Brenda 
Tracy, also a survivor of 
sexual assault, went on to 
say the media representation 
of her sexual assault case 
only had a negative effect on 
her situation and her mental 
health.
“The media coverage of 
my story at that time didn’t 
do anything to counteract 
the victim blaming and the 
backlash against me,” Tracy 
said. “There was a lot of ‘what 
was she doing there? What 
was she wearing?’ That kind 
of thing … I just remember 
my community really turning 
against me viciously.”
Tracey said the media not 
only hurt her relationships 
with people close to her but 
also ruined her mental health.
“The media was part of a 
machine that pushed me into 

a place of darkness,” Tracey 
said. “Depression. PTSD. I 
really think that if I did not 
have children, I would not be 
here today. I would have killed 
myself, absolutely.”
Tracy ended her discussion 
on the media by discussing its 
importance and how it must 
be used properly to spread the 
most awareness possible for 
survivors and their stories. 
“The media matters. I’ve 
seen how much of a difference 
it’s made in my life,” Tracy 
said. “And my heart aches for 
survivors who are not treated 
well by the media, and when 
we don’t do well coverage of 
this issue because it really 
changes the conversation, and 
it can push it into a really good 
place or it can push it into a 
really bad place.”
Tracy said she believes there 
is not much change happening 
within 
college 
campus 
culture, even with all the 
recent coverage of survivors 
and increased sexual assault 
awareness in the community.
“We haven’t really made 
that much progress on our 
campuses,” Tracy said. “So, 
until we start hearing from 
survivors 
that 
‘my 
school 
treated me well,’ I just am not 
willing to pat everybody on the 
back … there’s a lot of work to 
do.”
Haynes agreed with Tracy 
that college institutions are 
not doing their best to help 
their students who have been 
sexually assaulted and instead 
become 
defensive 
when 
charged with such allegations.
“We’re not at a point where 
anyone 
wants 
to 
be 
held 
accountable for their actions,” 
she said. “. … It’s very, very 
hard 
to 
eradicate 
sexual 
violence when you don’t even 
acknowledge 
that 
it 
even 
happens. So, I think we’re still 
at this point where we’re trying 
to protect this institutional 
image before protecting our 
students.”

REPRESENTATION
From Page 1A

In an email to The Daily, 
University 
spokesperson 
Dana Elger wrote there is 
no University-wide policy 
on the practice of faculty 
teaching 
and 
requiring 
students 
to 
purchase 
works they have played a 
role in creating. The role 
of 
regulating 
textbooks 
and determining policies 
related to textbooks falls 
on specific units instead. 
The Faculty Handbook, 
however, 
does 
note 
teaching staff should not 
have 
“direct 
dealings 
with students in the sale 
of 
books, 
instruments, 
lectures, notes, or similar 
materials.”
Elger pointed to LSA and 
College 
of 
Engineering 
policies, 
which 
require 
faculty who plan to teach 
their own books in class to 
disclose this information 
to a chair or director for 
review. 
The decision on whether 
to allow faculty to teach 
books they have edited and 
authored has played out on 
college campuses across 
the country. Proponents 
find the practice allows 
lecturers to teach work 
they know intimately and 
is sometimes considered 
the 
best 
literature 
on 
a 
particular 
subject, 
whereas 
critics 
assert 
it allows faculty to take 
advantage of students and 
raises ethical concerns.
At the University of 
Kentucky, a journalism 
professor 
was 
placed 
on leave in 2016 after 
administrators found out 
he required his students to 
purchase his book without 
“special 
administrative 
permission” 
from 
the 
school, 
violating 
its 
policy. He had received 
approximately $6,000 in 
royalties at the time of his 
dismissal.
In 2004, the American 
Association of University 
Professors weighed in on 
the subject, writing in a 
statement the practice of 
faculty selecting their own 
works as course materials 
is 
protected 
through 
academic 
freedom 
and, 
alone, is not cause for 
concern. The Association 
noted there is a possibility 
faculty could purposefully 
choose a text from which 
they would gain financial 
benefits and policies at 
different 
schools 
could 
fail to address this issue. 
Nationally, the validity 
of the practice has been 
debated for years, though 
it still occurs on college 
campuses regularly. A poll 
from Insider and Barnes 
& Noble College Insights 
released in October found 
two-thirds 
of 
students 
surveyed at colleges across 
the 
country 
reported 
having to purchase a book 
written by their professor. 
Tailoring content to the 
class
When 
Mateo 
began 
teaching Astronomy 104, 
the norm was to begin 
the semester with physics 

then 
transition 
to 
the 
broad, introductory look 
at astronomy. However, he 
developed what he sees as 
a better way to teach the 
class: having the physics 
aspect 
of 
the 
course 
within the different units 
as they become relevant, 
as opposed to it being a 
separate unit.
For a while, Mateo used 
other books and relied 
heavily on his detailed 
notes to teach the class in 
the way he felt was most 
effective. He then decided 
to create a book reflecting 
his 
vision, 
which 
was 
“Alien Skies.”
The textbook, according 
to Mateo, takes readers to 
different places in space 
and 
describes 
what’s 
there and the context 
needed 
to 
understand 
it. He said this is a far 
different approach than 
other textbooks available, 
which are all similar in 
structure 
but 
different 
than his vision for the 
course. 
“Honestly, I could cut 
a page randomly out of 
every book (published 
in the area since the 
1960s), put it together, 
and you wouldn’t even 
notice 
that 
they’re 
different,” Mateo said. 
“They’re all the same. 
Every single textbook 
that’s been done since 
that time is exactly the 
same. I decided I don’t 
like this approach. I 
don’t 
think 
that’s 
a 
good approach, so that’s 
why I developed the 
textbook.”
Mateo 
noted 
when 
he 
taught 
the 
class 
without 
the 
book, 
he 
would jump around in a 
different 
textbook 
and 
add additional notes in 
class. He said having his 
tailor-made book provides 
more cohesion within the 
course, but also noted 
what is taught in lecture 
goes beyond the contents 
of the book even if there is 
some overlap.
When 
working 
with 
the publisher, Mateo said 
he requested the book be 
reasonably priced to not 
place an undue burden 
on students. He said his 
book is not any more 
costly than a comparable 
textbook, and students are 
able to purchase it from 
other 
students 
rather 
than directly from the 
publisher.
Some 
staff 
members 
reject the notion faculty 
teach their own textbooks 
as a medium for increasing 
revenue, which has been a 
central argument against 
the practice in the past. 
Professor of History Victor 
Lieberman, who teaches 
a textbook he edited and 
wrote 
an 
introduction 
for in History 244: The 
History 
of 
the 
Arab-
Israeli Conflict, wrote in 
an email to The Daily he 
does not receive monetary 
compensation when the 
book is purchased. 
“I 
have 
never 
taken 
a cent in royalties on 
that book, which itself 
constitutes a fraction of 

assigned readings for the 
course,” Lieberman wrote.
Mateo 
echoed 
Lieberman’s 
sentiment, 
noting he has not made 
enough from the royalties 
to balance out the work 
he put into creating it. 
Instead, Mateo said the 
value lies in having the 
book out there, in hopes 
professors elsewhere want 
to use it.
While Mateo said he 
understands concerns on 
this issue, he is against 
having a University-wide 
policy, as he feels it may 
discourage faculty from 
publishing. He said most 
faculty 
members 
who 
write 
textbooks 
do 
so 
to put their notes into a 
structured document for 
student use. 
“These 
are 
not 
bestselling books,” Mateo 
said. “The reason you do 
it is because it probably 
reflects the vision that you 
want to have for the for the 
course 
you’re 
teaching, 
and what’s wrong with 
that?”
Student perspective
Charlic noted the issue 
is difficult to solve, as 
there is no one-size-fits-
all solution. 
“It’s 
not 
necessarily 
something you can apply 
to every situation,” Charlic 
said. “If a professor wants 
to use their own textbook, 
it needs to be approved 
individually.” 
LSA 
sophomore 
Ben 
Dieffenbacher 
was 
required to purchase a 
course pack from Ulrich’s 
for a Political Science class 
that included a collection 
of chapters the professor 
of the class wrote for the 
course, according to the 
syllabus.
Like 
Charlic, 
Dieffenbacher 
said 
he 
would 
feel 
comfortable 
with the practice if there 
was 
a 
University-wide 
approval system. He felt 
the collection of chapters 
he purchased contained 
information all covered 
in lectures and said he 
recommends 
students 
planning 
to 
take 
the 
course not purchase it if 
they attend class.
“Looking 
back 
on 
it, it does seem a little 
bit 
questionable,” 
Diffenbacher said. “Why 
would you assign your 
own (book)?”
Diffenbacher 
said 
it’s 
important 
for 
the 
University 
to 
oversee 
this to ensure students 
do not have to purchase 
unnecessary 
books. 
He 
said 
this 
is 
especially 
an 
issue 
for 
students 
from 
low-socioeconomic 
backgrounds. 
Diffenbacher also noted 
he 
has 
no 
issue 
with 
instructors 
using 
their 
own content when it is 
provided for free, but it 
becomes a gray area when 
there is a cost associated.
“When they brought it 
for free, not a problem. If 
you’re providing it for cost, 
I think it gets problematic 
in our current system,” 
Diffenbacher said. 

BOOKS
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

