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Friday, January 10, 2020 — 3
school, and I’m looking at
that website, I’m not thinking
that me having a child is an
emergency.”
In general, Ellard said it was
challenging to find sources
of financial aid through the
University when she returned
to school as a student parent.
“It
was
damn
near
impossible to get financial
aid
without
making
an
unbelievable
amount
of
phone calls and asking the
same questions over and over
and over again,” she said. “I’m
really blessed to have parents
who have helped support
me and to have a boyfriend
who can work and who has
a degree and a full-time job,
but I know there’s plenty of
parents out there who don’t.”
The high cost of living in
Ann Arbor can also present
a challenge when it comes
to
supporting
a
family.
Especially because child care
is so expensive in Ann Arbor,
Marra said many student
parents may choose to live
elsewhere
and
commute,
adding
stress
to
their
academic lives.
“Now they’re a commuter,
as well as a student with a kid,
which is now two challenges
that can get in the way of their
academic success,” she said.
For student parents who
do live in Ann Arbor, typical
student housing often isn’t
the best fit. Fitzpatrick, who
found out she was pregnant
between her sophomore and
junior years, took a year and
a half off, then found housing
with three other women near
Main Street after returning
to school. She said the house
was not an ideal environment
for her young child.
Fitzpatrick now lives in
family housing in Northwood,
which she says is a better living
situation for her daughter.
Senior
Associate
Director
for University Housing Amir
Baghdadchi said Northwood
IV and V offer family-friendly
amenities such as multiple
bedrooms, in-unit washers
and dryers, school buses,
playgrounds,
community
centers and close access to
one of the University’s day
care centers. One of the main
benefits, he said, is a vibrant
community of kids — there’s
even
trick-or-treating
on
Halloween.
“If you’re a kid, the action’s
not at Stadium, you’re not
going to do anything down
there,” Baghdadchi said. “We
want to make sure that from
their point of view, it’s a rich,
interesting experience.”
Though Fitzpatrick and her
daughter have benefited from
Northwood family housing,
she said it’s difficult to pay
her $1,200 monthly rent as a
single mom.
“It’s so nice, there’s kiddos
running around, it’s so quiet,
it’s an ideal family housing,
but
it’s
so
expensive,”
Fitzpatrick said.
Finances
aside,
another
major concern for student
parents is balancing multiple
commitments. LSA student
Lyss
Shumaker
—
who
transferred
to
U-M
in
2017, took time off for her
pregnancy,
and
returned
in 2018 when her daughter,
Violet, was 9 weeks old — said
she almost dropped out.
“It
was
so
difficult
to
balance being a new parent
and being a full-time student,”
Shumaker said. “I remember
being up in the middle of the
night with her because she
was still a newborn, and I was
just studying stats.”
Shumaker,
who
will
graduate
in
May
with
a
degree in psychology, said
extracurricular meetings are
difficult to schedule because
she’s taking care of a young
child with her own needs and
an early bedtime.
“Sometimes
it
can
be
hard for other students to
understand the extent of the
responsibilities,”
Shumaker
said. “For example, if we have
a project that we need to work
on, it can be hard to be like,
well I have a one-hour slot
here.”
In
brainstorming
ideas
for how the University could
better accommodate student
parents,
Ellard
said
it’s
important to confront deep-
seated misconceptions about
what a successful Wolverine
looks like.
“I think it’s way more
political
than
anything,
I
don’t think it really has to do
with resources,” Ellard said.
“I hate to say it, because I love
U of M and I bleed maize and
blue, but I really think it’s the
stereotypical UMich snobbery
of, ‘You have to be a certain
type of person that goes here.’
They preach their diversity,
but I feel like their diversity
has a boundary.”
Building
a
community
for undergraduate student
parents
In light of the lack of
sufficient support described
to The Daily by undergraduate
student
parents
at
the
University
of
Michigan,
students with children are
advocating for their needs
on campus, bolstered by the
Center for the Education of
Women.
LSA
students
Alexandra
Ellard,
Lyss
Shumaker
and
Kerrigan
Fitzpatrick
are
moving
forward
with
advocacy
on
campus,
building community among
undergraduate student parents
and
pushing
for
greater
support from the University.
As
student
parents
themselves, Ellard, Shumaker
and
Fitzpatrick,
alongside
other student parents, are
focusing
on
expanding
available
resources
and
making sure future student
parents
feel
welcome
on
campus. They are working
to
establish
a
group
for
undergraduate students with
children.
Shumaker said during her
first semester she felt as if she
were the only student parent
at U-M.
“There was no network of
other student parents that I
could reach out to,” Shumaker
said. “When I transferred in,
my adviser gave me a list of
lactation rooms on campus,
but that was the extent of the
University’s support of me as
a student mom. At that time, I
felt very isolated on campus.”
The budding student parent
group had its first meeting
at the end of last semester.
Shumaker
said
she
hopes
student parents will be able to
connect and advocate for their
needs together.
“As we find each other
in the dark corners of the
University, we’re trying to
build a community,” Shumaker
said. “We had our first meet up
a few weeks ago, and it was
small, but one of the goals that
we’re trying to accomplish is
just, let’s start with the stories,
let’s start with the experiences
of student parents and see
where the needs truly are.”
Unfortunately,
Ellard
said, it can be hard to recruit
student parents to the group
because many are hesitant
to come forward, and CEW
cannot reveal names since its
counseling is confidential.
“Because
of
the
social
stigma
on
campus
about
having children, and the fear
of being treated differently by
professors and administration,
a lot of parents don’t identify
as parents because they just
don’t want people to know,”
Ellard said.
Ellard’s dream is to launch
a
nonprofit
supporting
student
parents
at
U-M,
since the University doesn’t
have a center devoted to
connecting student parents
with resources. She noted
Michigan
State
University
does. Ellard plans to start
identifying potential donors
next semester.
Fitzpatrick and Shumaker
are also working to secure
funding from optiMize for a
project with two main goals:
student parent advocacy and
child care support. Shumaker
said
optiMize
has
been
supportive of their ideas thus
far.
The first goal of the project
is
to
create
a
document
outlining
what
student
parents can reasonably ask of
their professors in terms of
accomodations. According to
Shumaker, her professors have
generally been supportive, but
there are no formal guidelines
detailing
what
academic
support student parents can
ask for. There is a policy in
place for graduate student
parents.
“It’s
really
up
to
the
whims of specific GSIs and
professors,” Shumaker said.
“We’re really banking on the
kindness of humanity at this
point.”
Ellard said one area where
the lack of clear guidelines
stands
out
is
child
care
emergencies. There is a backup
child care service through the
University, but according to
Sociology professor Barbara
Anderson, that service is not
as immediately available as
students would like. Ellard
said it is often impossible to
know what to do if a day care
is closed and a professor is not
flexible, for instance.
“I
can’t
attend
class
remotely, I’ve had professors
tell me that my kid’s not
allowed in class,” Ellard said.
“What are my other choices,
besides paying for a babysitter
out of pocket, which most of us
can’t afford?”
Anderson said not only do
faculty need more information
about student parents, but
student parents might also
be more willing to ask for
help if there were a center —
analogous to the University’s
Services for Students with
Disabilities — to mediate and
support conversations with
their professors.
CEW
Director
Tiffany
Marra said it is useful for
students to know what is
within their rights to ask
of professors. CEW will be
offering
advocacy
training
as
part
of
its
academic
coaching
program,
which
will
be
launched
within
the next month and targets
nontraditional students.
The
second
part
of
Shumaker and Fitzpatrick’s
plan is founding a drop-in
day care center on campus.
Fitzpatrick said this day care
would be very useful in the
case of emergencies or late-
night events on campus.
“Last winter semester, I
was taking statistics, and the
exams are from 7 to 9 at night,”
Fitzpatrick
said.
“Having
some kind of staff that could
be there to watch our kiddos
while we’re taking an exam
like that, or if there’s a snow
day and the day cares close but
U-M is still open and we still
have classes, somewhere we
could take our kids.”
Supplementing the efforts of
students, Marra and Anderson
will be attending a conference
this month through the Aspen
Institute to learn about best
practices for accommodating
student
parents.
Anderson
said they hope to gain a sense
of the steps other institutions
are taking.
Lastly,
CEW
and
U-M
student parents are discussing
the possibility of allowing
students
with
children
to
register
for
classes
early.
Shumaker said this would help
student parents work out their
schedules early on. .
“One of the things that I
wish U-M would allow student
parents to do is have an early
registration period so that we
could legitimately figure out
our schedules in a way that
works for us,” Shumaker said.
Marra
said
early
registration for undergraduate
student parents would not
place significant strain on the
University, since there aren’t
too many students in that
category.
“Given their responsibilities
outside of school and the small
population we’re talking about,
it seems like that would be a
reasonable
accommodation
to make sure that they can
get their kids to child care,
that they can choose classes
that fit within their schedule,
that they can make their work
schedule work as well,” Marra
said.
As student parents at the
University
organize
and
envision ways to facilitate
their work-life balance and
build community, Shumaker
said one of the most important
points is for student parents to
connect with one another.
“I wasn’t sure that I could
be a good mom and also be a
full-time student, but I have
been able to,” Shumaker said.
“If there are other student
parents
out
there,
just
believe in your power, but
also look for other people to
partner with.”
In general, Ellard hopes
the University’s culture will
shift to be more accepting of
student parents.
“If Michigan is for the
leaders and best, and single
moms and parents in general
are some of the hardest
workers ever, why are we
not making this more of an
atmosphere where parents
are welcome?” Ellard said.
New ESG festival features approximately 40 clubs, provides opportunity for recruitment
Engineers browse, learn about
organizations at first EnginFest
The
Engineering
Student
Government
held
EnginFest,
a
club
fair
for
engineering
organizations, on Thursday at the
Duderstadt Center to promote
interest in engineering student
groups.
The fair consisted of about 40
student organizations ranging
from
engineering
societies
advocating diversity in the field
of engineering to professional
fraternities.
Engineering senior Hannah
Leszczynski, president of ESG,
said the fair was essentially
Festifall for engineering students.
She
said
the
event
enabled
students to interact with student
organizations pertaining to their
engineering interests specifically.
“I was part of the center for
campus
involvement
advisory
board
and
something
that
was discussed was Northfest,
Festifall, as well as Winterfest,”
Leszczynskyi
said.“I
realized
that we did not have a North
Campus Winterfest, so to speak.
The idea came about as to having
something
similar
on
North
Campus as we do for Winterfest.”
Engineering junior Meredith
Allen, ESG vice president, said the
main purpose of EnginFest was to
make recruiting easier for student
organizations.
“I think that the main goal was
to help engineering organizations
be able to recruit for this new
semester,” Allen said. “And I
think it has been great so far – the
tables have people signing up and
there’s been a lot of traffic coming
through.”
Some students who spoke to
The Daily agreed EnginFest was
useful in spreading awareness
about
Engineering
student
organizations.
Engineering
sophomore
Joshua
Goldstein,
however, said he felt the fair did
not offer much pertaining to his
major.
“I noticed that they don’t
have anything related to IOE
(Industrial
and
Operational
Engineering),” Goldstein said. “I’d
like to see stuff related to that.”
Engineering
freshman
Chimmuanya
Iheanyi-Igwe
told
The
Daily
that
having
a
concentrated
group
of
organizations made the search for
interesting organizations easier.
“Last semester I didn’t go to
one of (the fairs) and it made
it really hard because it was
overwhelming trying to figure
out which (club) you want to join,”
Iheanyi-Igwe said. “I think this
gives more of an inner perspective
of how (the club) works.”
NAVYA GUPTA
Daily Staff Reporter
Duffy explained. Next year will
involve implementation of the
task force’s decisions.
Attendees participated in a
group
discussion,
producing
ideas
such
as
wellness
counselors for each department,
training for faculty members
and making graduate students
more aware of what resources
are appropriate for specific
situations.
Rackham student Sarah Bork
studies engineering education
research and is focusing her
dissertation
on
engineering
graduate student mental health.
Bork said she attended the event
to hear what students who aren’t
normally engaged in mental
health discussions shared with
the panel.
“I’m just eager to hear the
voices of other students and
perspectives,” Bork said. “I
know a lot about it from different
perspectives. As far as getting a
concise graduate student voice
from different departments who
aren’t really as engaged … this is
the platform for them to speak.”
Looking forward, the task
force aims to collect data on
mental health among students
and to host more events to
solicit feedback. Coffee house
meetings and additional town
halls are planned for the winter
and spring semesters.
Bork, who is also in Rackham
student government and several
mental health advocacy groups,
plans to actively participate in
these events.
HEALTH
From Page 1
“Islamophobia is a system of
power and prejudice, and it’s
not always necessarily against
Muslims,” Jenna said. “It’s very
racialized … mainly based off
of physical characteristics, or
perceived beliefs and perceived
origin.”
Jenna said this creates an uphill
battle in which Muslim or Arab-
presenting
communitites
are
expected to reduce the pejorative
assumptions around them by
voluntarily inviting police into
their communities.
PYG presenter Jenin, who also
requested The Daily not use her
last name, explained how such
behavior creates a “bad Muslim–
good Muslim binary” based in the
notion of respectability politics.
“Respectability
politics
is
the idea of presenting a political
critique without showing any
form of emotion, because as soon
as you show emotion, you’re
automatically seen as irrational,”
Jenin said. “I mean, you can’t
be reasoned with, because you
can’t talk about critiquing the
power structure without getting
emotional.”
Jenin
said
painting
Islamophobia
as
a
“misunderstanding”
that
can be solved by outreach to
greater society simplifies and
undermines its power.
“Imagine we’re in a video
game right now,” Jenin said.
“We’re finished with Level 3
and we have to destroy a huge
monster,
and
this
monster
has a superpower: producing
minions. We have to kill the
minions, and all we’re doing is
killing all the minions. It’s not
being productive because their
minions are endless. That’s
exactly how Islamophobia is —
we’re not actually tackling the
source.”
Noting
how
most
social
movements borrow structural
techniques from Civil Rights–
era Black nationalist groups
like the Black Panther Party,
Jenin stressed the importance
of
looking
at
surveillance
techniques used in that period as
well. She and Jenna highlighted
the similarities between the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
Counterintelligence
Program
used during the Cold War and
the Department of Homeland
Security’s Countering Violent
Extremism initiative.
In the 1960s, COINTELPRO
advised agents to “neutralize”
Black
nationalist
groups
without due process for fear of
their “propensity for violence.”
According to Jenna and Jenin,
CVE is the same program under
a different name.
“These tactics we see are so
prevalent, still present and still
targeting the same people,”
Jenna said. “(The targets) all
challenge established beliefs on
both domestic and international
policy.”
According
to
the
PYG
presenters,
COINTELPRO
and
CVE
were
successful
because they forced powerful
activist organizations to deal
with internal power struggles
following the assasination of a
leader or amid an unnecessary
legal fight. Both of these things,
presenters said, drain human
and monetary resources.
“The goal of surveillance
isn’t just to collect information,”
Jenin said. “It is to use this
information to disrupt political
advocacy.”
ACTIVISM
From Page 1
In
collaboration
with
the
Pickensville Community Center,
Ransom developed a project that
will document and collect oral
histories of former students in
the Rosenwald Schools. She said
the project’s public engagement
initiatives will help foster similar
work.
“My goal is to be a researcher,
but to also give back to the
community, to have that research
help the community in some
way, but never taking for granted
that the community also has
something to offer, that the
community also has knowledge
to bring to the table, to tackle
issues in our community and
cities, nation and world,” Ransom
said.
The CAI’s new program aims
to help public engagement fellows
develop public engagement skills,
connect with a community of
public engagement professionals
at U-M and develop innovative
projects to serve the public.
For this pilot year, the program
will support nine fellows across
various disciplines and career
stages. Applications are currently
being accepted until Feb. 3.
The fellowship experience will
be split between a one-month
studio experience in May and
a project support phase. The
studio experience will allow
fellows to interact with public
engagement experts across the
University in workshop, one-on-
one project consultations and
mentorship from faculty. Fellows
will also complete two short
projects, including a written
piece for a public audience and
an
experiment
using
digital
technology. During this state,
they will develop a project
proposal.
ENGAGEMENT
From Page 1
If Michigan is for the leaders and best,
and single moms and parents in general
are some of the hardest workers ever,
why are we not making this more
of an atmosphere where parents are
welcome?
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
PARENTS
From Page 2