Last
winter,
LSA
student
Alexandra Ellard had to miss
10 days of class. Due to extreme
weather, many Metro Detroit area
public schools and facilities were
closed. This meant Ellard couldn’t
take her almost 2-year-old son,
Oliver, to day care, and the road
conditions were too dangerous to
bring him along on the 40-minute
drive to campus. She had no choice
but to stay home.
Ellard, who will be graduating
this
May
with
a
General
Studies degree, reached out to
her professors. A few of them
allowed her to attend their classes
remotely,
through
platforms
such as BlueJeans, Skype or
Google Chat. But others, she said,
threatened to fail her.
“There
are
no
protective
policies
for
undergraduate
students
that
protect
them
from attendance discrepancies
when it comes to not having
dependent child care,” Ellard said.
One of the professors who
refused to accommodate Ellard
taught a class on gender and
organization,
which
Ellard
needed to graduate on time.
After appealing her case to
the
Organizational
Studies
department chair and talking to
an ombudsman, she said she was
finally allowed to pass the class.
“I had to fight to pass the class,
and she still gave me a D plus,”
Ellard said. “You find yourself very
often having to choose whether
to be a good parent, or be a good
student, and that I find to be a very
huge problem.”
According to Ellard, whether
a
student
parent
is
offered
accommodations depends almost
entirely on the professor. Some of
her professors have been helpful,
even allowing her to bring her
son to class when child care was
unavailable, whereas others have
not been as receptive.
“I’ve
had
professors
hold
Oliver during class so that I could
stay,” Ellard said. “I’ve had other
professors tell me that Michigan is
for the leaders and best and when
I became a parent I forfeited that
opportunity.”
Sociology professor Barbara
Anderson, who is collaborating
with the University of Michigan’s
Center for the Education of
Women on issues surrounding
student parents, said professors
may not understand the situation
student parents are in.
“Some faculty see it as
their choice to be parents,
and I don’t think that’s the
right way to think about it,
and I don’t think it’s helpful,”
Anderson said.
The University does not
Approximately
50
people
came to Weiser Hall Thursday
afternoon for a presentation
from Levi McLaughlin, Toyota
Visiting Professor of Japanese
Studies. The Center for Japanese
Studies and the Department of
Asian Languages and Cultures
hosted the lecture as part of the
CJS Noon Lecture Series.
In his lecture, McLaughlin
discussed
the
relationship
between religion and politics
in Japan. He is a professor at
North Carolina State University
and the author of “Soka Gakkai’s
Human Revolution: The Rise
of a Mimetic Nation in Modern
Japan.”
Addressing
the
complex
nature of religion in Japan,
McLaughlin shared a personal
experience he had visiting Japan
a few years ago while staying
with his friends’ parents.
“They had kept one room
entirely for this huge, Buddhist
altar,” McLaughlin said. “We
were talking about why I was
there and the topic of religion,
and as he was replacing the
water in the altar, he goes,
‘We’re not religious,’ and I wish
I was filming this because it’s the
perfect example of what it’s like
to talk about religion in Japan.”
He noted how religion in
Japan ties into the public’s
relationship
with
the
royal
family.
“Many regard some access
to the royal couple as access
to the divine and treat it as a
life cycle,” McLaughlin said.
“The events surrounding the
emperor and the royal family is
in a way, constituent of their own
identities.”
Additionally, McLaughlin said
there are other religious groups
such as Buddhists, Christians
and New Religions branched
under the Liberal Democratic
Party who impact politics in
the country. He said these
groups
influence
legislation,
mobilize votes, create power for
politicians and impact public
discourse.
McLaughlin also discussed
specific religious groups such
as Jinja Honcho and the Soka
Gakkai. He said these groups
have the power to possibly
disrupt the government in its
current state.
Rackham
student
Sophie
Hasuo, who does research in
the Center for Japanese Studies,
said
the
lecture
challenged
her understanding of Japanese
national belonging.
“It complicated the whole
religion and politics division that
you can connect to other regions
as well,” Hasuo said. “It brought
a human centered perspective to
a really complicated topic that
only scholars grapple with.”
Allison
Alexy,
Women’s
Studies and Asian Language and
Cultures
assistant
professor,
said the lecture taught her more
about the interaction of politics
and religion in Japanese culture.
michigandaily.com
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Friday, January 10, 2020
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Vol. CXXIX, No. 47
©2019 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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ALICE TRACEY
Daily Staff Reporter
In an effort to broaden public
engagement,
the
University
of
Michigan
Center
for
Academic
Innovation is launching a new project
support program titled the Public
Engagement Faculty Fellowship.
The new project will provide an
opportunity for faculty — regardless
of
discipline
or
prior
public
engagement experience — to work on
projects aimed at engaging the public
with the guidance and support of the
CAI and other units across campus.
The fellowship comes as part of
President Mark Schlissel’s Faculty
Public Engagement initiative, which
he announced in 2017.
Rackham
student
Kimberly
Ransom, who has done work with
public
engagement,
noted
the
importance of work that involves
people outside of academia. Ransom
currently researches Black childhood
in and around the formerly segregated
Rosenwald Schools in rural Alabama.
“I think public engagement is
so important, particularly around
scholarship, because it allows you to
put research into action, and it allows
you to use scholarship to bridge
knowledge within academe with
community
knowledge,”
Ransom
said.
Approximately 40 students
gathered Thursday evening in
the Samuel T. Dana Building
to participate in a conversation
surrounding the modern state
of surveillance in Muslim, Arab,
Southeast
Asian
and
North
African communities in the
United States.
LSA junior Fareah Fysudeen,
MSA vice president external said
the event and two accompanying
events later this month are
meant to cultivate responsible
and effective action from the
Muslim and Arab communities
on campus.
“The most important thing is
that we’re mobilizing Muslim
youth in a way that’s informative
and
educational
and
deeply
looking at the social fabric of the
world around us,” Fysudeen said.
According
to
Palestinian
Youth Group presenter Jenna,
who requested The Daily not
use her last name to protect
her identity as an activist,
colonialism and the subsequent
Islamophobia it spurred has
allowed a culture in which
surveillance is accepted and
normalized.
Activists
talk power
structure,
security
CAMPUS LIFE
MELANIE TAYLOR
Daily Staff Reporter
Lecture examines relationship
between religion, politics in Japan
Visiting professor addresses complex nature of country’s history
ACADEMICS
MSA, others, highlight
oppressive nature of
surveillance state in
the United States
Center for Academic
innovation launches
new project, aims to
promote engagement
KRISTINA ZHENG
Daily Staff Reporter
See ACTIVISM, Page 3
See ENGAGEMENT, Page 3
Program
supports
faculty in
research
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Levi McLaughlin, Associate Professor in the Department of Philsophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University, discusses the
role of religioun and politics in Japan in Weiser Hall Thursday afternoon.
VARSHA VEDAPUDI
Daily Staff Reporter
Rackham
student
Julio
Ferreira
is
finishing
his
second year in the College
of
Engineering:
a
critical
year for a PhD student. In
a few months, he will need
to complete his dissertation
proposal. Lately, Ferreira has
been
feeling
overwhelmed
with the workload he needs to
undertake.
“I really like doing what I
do, but I feel like I need some
outlet or something,” Ferreira
said.
Ferreira,
through
his
personal
life,
is
familiar
with mental health issues.
On Thursday, he attended
the Rackham Mental Health
Task Force’s town hall for
graduate students to learn
what resources were available
to him.
The town hall was part of
Rackham’s wider efforts to
address mental health issues
among graduate students on
campus. Registration for the
town hall was at full capacity
with nearly 100 attendees. The
Rackham mental health task
force first informed attendees
about resources available and
feedback it has received on its
activities.
Meghan Duffy, task force
chair and professor of ecology
and evolutionary biology, said
many students are unaware
of the support mechanisms in
place.
“One of the most common
things we’ve heard is that a
lot of people don’t know what
resources are available,” Duffy
said.
Duffy also noted students
and staff do not know when
to utilize which resources. In
addition to informing students
about the available options,
however, the task force is
looking to make improvements
regarding mental health in
three areas: Rackham as a
whole,
departments
within
Rackham
and
individual
graduate students.
This year, the task force
will aim to identify specific
changes to make at these
levels and develop a plan to
support
identified
changes,
Committee hosts forum for Rackham
community to explore personal wellness
Task force
emphasizes
grad mental
health issues
AYSE ELDES
Daily Staff Reporter
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Lyss Shumaker, Alexandra Ellard and Kerrigan Fitzpatrick are three student parents at the University of Michigan.
See PARENTS, Page 2
‘A hidden population’: Student parents
advocate for better resources at ‘U’
Undergraduates face challenges balancing schoolwork and parenting
See HEALTH, Page 3