The rooms have AI technology
on the computers and dry-erase
walls to make it easier to conduct
job interviews.
LSA senior Taylor Lind said
she encourages students to spend
time at the Opportunity Hub and
explore the new LSA addition.
“I’m really excited to see how
students can utilize this new
space,” Lind said. “I think it’s a
really unique one, especially for
a college as large as LSA, because
it’s hard to find a central space
to hang out as opposed to other
colleges. I would just really
encourage LSA students to step
out of their comfort zone and
explore a new favorite study spot
eventually.”
Hannah Lozon, operations lead
of Opportunity Hub, said she is
excited to see students using the
resources from the Opportunity
Hub.
“We’re most excited about, I
would say, from my perspective,
seeing students coming in and
using the building now,” Lozon
said. “Each day we’ve been open
since the semester started, there
are more and more students every
day, students are just finding
their nooks, so that’s fantastic.
And then, of course, seeing the
Opportunity Hub has been able
to do services for students, where
we have much more space, which
is really amazing.”
24/7 Market
Food will be available in the
building addition via the 24/7
Market, a self-serving market
that takes debit and credit cards.
The market will have a variety of
different options from granola
bars to energy drinks and meals,
as well as a Starbucks coffee
machine where students can
make their own beverages.
Transfer Center
The Transfer Student Center
is a space for all transfer students
at
the
University
to
study,
and holds events to help these
students
acclimate.
Transfer
student ambassadors are placed
in the Center to answer any
questions and provide advice.
Commuter students are also
welcome to all the resources for
transfer students. There will be
lockers in the LSA Building for
commuter students to keep their
items while they are on campus.
LSA senior Samantha Tosa is
a transfer student ambassador.
She said she is excited to see how
the space will support transfer
students on campus.
“The transfer centers are
a really great date spot for
transfer students in general,
because, like I said, there was
no space before specifically for
transfer students,” Tosa said.
“It’s really nice though … We’ve
had students just come in and
sit down and study to the point
where I’ve been able to recognize
them, and now we’re friends. It’s
a really great start to make and
build connections with other
people who are going through a
similar experience.”
LSA Student Government
LSA
Student
Government,
previously housed in Mason
Hall, will relocate to the new
building addition as well.
Brian
Wong,
president
of
LSA Student Government and
LSA senior, told The Daily he is
excited to have a space central to
campus.
“I
think
we’re
incredibly
happy about this new building,”
Wong said. “We’re glad it’s open
… Jumping into a new place
really helps with coming up with
new creative processes and ideas
that we’re really excited about.”
Technology Services
Technology
services
will
also have a presence in the LSA
Building at the Navigation Desk
on the first floor. Starting in mid-
February, students will be able to
rent out chargers, adapters and
graphing calculators.
Sanam
Arab,
manager
of
Programs and Patron Services,
told The Daily she will be
collecting
student
feedback
to see what other equipment
students would like to have
available from their services.
“We offer a lot of different
services to students, faculty and
staff. One of the things we’ll be
bringing to the Navigation Desk
is our equipment loan service,”
Arab said. “In our other centers,
we rent out cameras, laptops,
digital
audio
recorders
and
things like that. We will see what
would be the interest here, and
we’ll bring those here to circulate
from this location as well.”
Homewarming Party
This Friday, Jan. 24, the
LSA Building will be hosting a
“Homewarming Party” from 2
p.m. to 4 p.m., with food, trivia
and games. LSA Associate Dean
Rosario Cabello told The Daily
she is looking forward to seeing
LSA students at the event.
“I’m very excited about this
because I’ve spent a lot of time
working on this, and I want
students to come,” Cabello said. “I
hope to invite all LSA students to
come down this Friday and really
check it out. Check out the space
and get their swag.”
They also asked that the School of
Social Work require a minimum
proportion of assigned readings
written by indigenous authors and
people of color, and that SSW “forge
a connection with the Center for
Institutional Diversity to support the
faculty’s comfort in teaching across
racial and ethnic differences.”
On Dec. 10, 2019, the School of
Social Work sent a statement to
the social work community at the
University addressing the issues
presented in the op-ed.
“We know that our work is not
done and there is much more to do,”
the statement read. “The op-ed speaks
to a disjuncture that the writers
experienced between what the School
says and what we do. Our faculty
and staff commitment towards anti-
racism and anti-oppressive work
continue to be aspirational. This is
true for our school as well as our
profession. This means working
towards continuous improvement in
all we do.”
In an interview with The Daily,
Woods said he was grateful that
the School of Social Work formally
recognized the issues.
“When we first got the response,
I was encouraged,” Woods said.
“I definitely think there’s some
level of validation from it, that the
administration took away to say
seriously they were open from
dialogue and they’re willing to engage
us in a meaningful way.”
The School of Social Work’s
statement opened an opportunity
for dialogue between the authors of
the op-ed and the administration,
according to Woods. He said they
held a meeting at the beginning of
the winter term, but added that the
meeting left the authors of the op-ed
feeling uncertain about the future of
the curriculum.
“I think for us, I was really
hoping to get a response from the
administration on our four specific
recommendations that we outlined,”
Woods said. “I think there was
some conversation on a couple of
the points, but they also then took
the opportunity to give us some
context on why things are the way
they are … For me personally, I was
hoping to have real dialogue about
our recommendations and a specific
response to either ‘we can do that,’
or ‘we can’t’ or making some sort of
counter offer. I think we didn’t really
get that.”
After the release of the op-ed,
the authors received an influx of
messages from current Social Work
students and alumni voicing their
support.
Social Work alum Violeta Donawa
noted the challenges of having a
class filled with people of different
experiences.
“You have students with a wealth
of lived experiences who are not
starting out at social justice 101,”
Donawa said. “The difficulty with
that is having students who are much
further along in these conversations
and those types of students getting
challenged in really rudimentary
ways that can feel draining and
exhausting.”
The 2016 Student Campus Climate
Survey on Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion, — the most recently taken
survey — reports that one in six
graduate students reported feeling
that over the past 12 months they
have been discriminated against at
the University of Michigan.
Donawa
called
attention
to
these surveys, commenting on the
number of students who have felt
discriminated against.
“Surveys have revealed a number
of students who have expressed
discomfort in discussing race, who, in
some way shape or form, have felt like
their voices have been marginalized
because
of
the
discomfort
in
discussing race,” Donawa said. “If
you’ve been having to explain your
identity in so many areas of life …
students can shut down; they can
decide they don’t want to participate.”
Donawa applauded the authors of
the op-ed for calling attention to the
issue and stressed the importance of
change.
“Our program is 16 months, 20
months, 12 months, and so you end
up with a very rapid graduation rate
of students, so it’s very hard to get
change to stick in that short amount
of time,” Donawa said. “What the
incoming MSW class is encountering,
or at least the students from 504 that
wrote the original article, they’re
filling the remnants of the fact that
the change is still in progress … You
can’t relegate solutions to a specific
department, you can’t relegate to
a certain office, you can’t relegate
solutions to voluntary activities.
That’s not how institutional change
happens.”
Chidimma Ozor is a Master of
Social Work candidate who was able
to take advantage of the Social Work
curriculum and craft it to better suit
her needs and experiences.
“I’ve noticed that there is a focus
on those that don’t have very much
experience with racism,” Ozor said.
In an interview with The Daily,
Lorraine Gutiérrez, associate dean for
educational programs at the School of
Social Work, addressed some of the
concerns regarding the Social Work
504.
“Because these classes are so
diverse in terms of the background
students come from — not only from
parts of the U.S., parts of Michigan,
but also parts of the world — it can
be challenging to figure out where
everyone is and what their past
knowledge is,” Gutiérrez said. “The
dynamics of that class can get very
complicated because somebody may
ask a question that other students may
feel is very naive and ill-informed, but
in fact, they might be asking it because
of what their own background and life
experience has been.”
She also addressed the class
content,
including
the
call
to
move toward introducing critical
race theory, the social scientific
framework used to examine the role
of race in society.
“Some
of
the
things
they
recommended, for example, critical
race theory, are things that could
be part of the class,” Gutiérrez said.
“The class is supposed to come from a
theory-base; the class is not intended
to focus entirely on race. … There
should be anti-racist and critical race
focus in that class, but it’s not the total
focus, because the focus in the class is
broader than that.”
To address the issue with the
diversity reading assigned in the class,
Gutiérrez said she hopes to reevaluate
a few of the assigned pieces.
“Someone
in
my
other
clinical lab group was saying,
‘I work on Friday nights, and
Friday nights are when I make
most of my money,’ and she has
clinicals Friday nights, so she
was just saying how it wasn’t
fair,” Lewis said. “She was
upset that now she couldn’t
work and make her money,
but other people that had
money could just switch out
of it to party. And she was just
frustrated and trying to figure
out how to pay for the rest of
her schooling.”
Many students were also
upset if they had more class
credits but still registered at a
later time than students who
had fewer credits, Elanjian
explained.
“My adviser told me that we
were using the entire University
slot time generator so not the
specific nursing school for
credit,” Elanjian said. “People
were upset because they had
way more credits than others
but ended up having to pick
their classes last on the last day
possible. There was a problem
with that, but the advisers are
actually working on switching
that for next year.”
Jayne Hubscher, a Nursing
senior and president of the U-M
Student Nurses’ Association,
spoke to The Daily about the
schedules and the impact on
the student culture at the
University.
“I feel like it’s not really
surprising to me because it
does kind of fit in with the
competitiveness of the Nursing
School that I’ve experienced,”
Hubscher said. “And there’s
always been drama that goes
on with different things, like
academically, so this is just like
another tip of the iceberg.”
Hubscher further said some
students
prefer
placements
at
the
University
Hospital
rather than at the VA due to
its location farther away from
campus.
“No one wants to go the VA
because you have to take the
bus, and you have to get up
way earlier,” Hubscher said.
“They used to not let you give
medication there, which really
hinders your education. So,
if someone got placed there,
they would definitely want to
pay for a position at Michigan
Medicine.”
Broekhuizen told The Daily
that in the past, students
have requested more input
in
their
clinical
section
assignments. In response, the
Nursing School piloted a new
registration
process
at
the
start of this school year. This
process
provided
students
with a system that allowed
them a choice in their clinicals,
Broekhuizen explained.
“This
was
an
isolated
case and did not affect any
students’ learning experience,”
Broekhuizen
said.
“There
is no evidence of additional
instances.”
To address the situation,
Bonnie
Hagerty,
associate
dean
for
undergraduate
affairs, sent an email on Dec.
5, 2019 to the sophomore and
junior undergraduate nursing
students.
“This is unbecoming of what
we strive for in nursing, that
of integrity, compassion, and
inclusivity,”
Hagerty
wrote.
“No
student
may
pressure
another student to make a
switch, including making offers
of monetary compensation or
other incentives.”
If continued, Hagerty wrote,
students
risked
disciplinary
action, including an honor code
violation.
Laurent
Hokanson,
a
freshman nursing major at
Grand Valley State University,
is currently in the middle of
applying to the U-M School of
Nursing. She spoke to The Daily
about the competitive nature of
nursing schools in general and
its impact on student culture.
“I cannot imagine selling
my position,” Hokanson said.
“It just seems unethical. It
implies that some departments
are better than others in health
care, and I think that is unjust.
We’re caring for people. It
shouldn’t matter what form of
care we’re giving. I think every
department is beneficial. It can
teach you amazing things.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 — 3A
LSA
From Page 1A
Read more at
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CONCERNS
From Page 1A
“It was from an organization
called
the
International
Holocaust
Remembrance
Alliance, and it has already
been accepted by the State
Department and was already
widely used within the Office
of Civil Rights.”
The IHRA definition used
in the order has been widely
criticized for the examples
of modern anti-Semitism to
which it refers. One example
describes
anti-Semitism
as
“denying
the
Jewish
people their right to self-
determination by claiming
that the existence of a State
of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
According to Student 1,
a member of Direct Action
for Palestine who wished
to remain anonymous due
to
fear
of
professional
repercussions,
the
IHRA
definition of anti-Semitism is
controversial.
“It has been sort of a site
of controversy because the
issue with the way that
IHRA defines it is that it
conflates anti-Semitism with
critique of Israel,” Student
1 said. “So that is basically
the lens through which I am
understanding that defining
Judaism
as
a
nationality
is
really
cementing
that
definition of anti-Semitism,
which I believe it’s a grossly
incorrect way of thinking
about it.”
In a statement, the Anti-
Defamation
League,
a
nonprofit that fights anti-
Semitism, praised the order,
noting that it supported the
IHRA definition.
“This
Executive
Order
is
an
important
step
acknowledging the growing
concern about rising anti-
Semitism
on
American
college
campuses,”
the
statement read. “Including
Jews in Title VI protections
is
something
that
ADL
and
previous
presidential
administrations
have
supported for years. ADL has
likewise long supported the
IHRA definition, which has
been adopted by more than
20 countries and entities
around the world as a non-
legally binding definition of
anti-Semitism.”
LSA senior Becca Lubow,
a student leader for If Not
Now, a student organization
opposing
the
Israeli
occupation of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, said she does
not support the executive
order.
“I
think
that
anti-
Semitism
is
present
and
rising on college campuses,
but Trump can’t be trusted
to define anti-Semitism for
us, because he incites deadly
white
nationalist
violence
against
our
community,”
Lubow said. “He calls us
disloyal; he refers to Israel
as ‘your country’ because
he believes we don’t really
belong here.”
Veidlinger
agreed
anti-
Semitism was rising and
should be addressed, but said
he did not believe regulating
speech on universities was
the correct approach.
“I think it’s significant to
look at the definition of anti-
Semitism and recognize that,
although we haven’t seen that
much in universities, I do
think it is a growing problem
around the world and in the
United States,” Veidlinger
said. “We have seen tragic
evidence of that in the last
few months, so I do think we
need to pay serious attention,
but I don’t think cracking
down
on
institutions
of
higher learning is the way to
do that.”
Arwa Gayar, Public Policy
senior and co-president of
Students Allied for Freedom
and Equality, expressed a
similar
belief
that
while
combating
anti-Semitism
is important, this order is
potentially problematic.
“I do obviously support
legislation
that
seeks
to
combat
anti-Semitism,
especially in a time where
there’s
rising
white
supremacy and there’s a need
for these things,” Gayar said.
“But I also am extremely
hesitant because I recognize
that a lot of times, people
kind
of
undermine
anti-
Semitism and throw it at
things or movements that
are, for example, critical of
policy of the State of Israel.”
According
to
Student
1,
Palestinian
activist
organizations
have
historically struggled with
issues of free speech on
campus.
“In
organizing
around
Palestine, what we call is the
‘Palestinian exception to free
speech,’” Student 1 said. “In
the United States, you can
have a position on something,
you can advocate for that
and be vocal about that, but
when it comes to Palestine,
all
of
a
sudden,
things
become very controversial,
and then an issue arises
which
also
Palestinian
activists,
in
particular,
have been asked to step
back and step down. Their
calls for justice have been
framed
as
discriminatory
and
hateful,
and
there’s
been administrative action
against those activists for a
long time.”
Lubow
also
voiced
concerns
that
the
order
would limit the free speech
of students on campus. She
said she believed Trump
was
using
the
order
to
silence
opposition
to
his
administration’s policies.
“As
a
Jewish
college
student, I know that this
order isn’t meant to keep me
safe. It’s meant to silence, in
particular, Palestinian and
Muslim
students,”
Lubow
said. “It could even silence
Jewish students who are
critical of occupation and
the
Israeli
government
and
students
who
speak
out against the occupation
on campuses are already
targeted and censored. Now
Trump wants to crack down
even further, and he’s doing it
in the name of Jewish safety,
which makes me angry. He
has no right to co-opt our
voice in that way.”
Gayar said the University
has
faced
challenges
in
handling free speech issues.
“College
campuses,
especially this University,
in recent years have kind of
struggled with free speech
and kind of evaluating, what
exactly is free speech? At
what expense does freedom
of speech come? And kind of
acknowledging that freedom
of speech is something that’s
very valuable,” Gayar said.
“But then again, you know, I
think as a country we value
free speech and our ability
to speak our minds and our
ability to, you know, be able
to exercise, our personal
politics, additional views.”
Miriam Saperstein, LSA
junior and student organizer
for Jewish Voice for Peace,
said there is an important
distinction
between
free
speech
and
anti-Semitic
speech which may not be
taken into account when
implementing this order.
“Palestinian students at
this University and across
the
country
are
already
being targeted,” Saperstein
said. “I guess I’d put it
simply that a feature of
Palestinian freedom depends
on supporting, not silencing,
this important advocacy.”
Student 1 said that the
capacity of the executive
order
to
stifle
student
freedoms should prompt a
response from the University.
“Now
for
me,
the
executive order is a really
egregious
stance
on
this
government that impedes on
the possibility of academic
freedom and student activism
on campus,” Student 1 said.
“And so, what the University
should do — what I believe
they’re obligated to do — is to
take an active stance against
that executive order.”
Saperstein
said
the
University
should
make
specific efforts to support
Palestinian
students
on
campus, especially following
the executive order.
“I
think
the
way
the
University supports dialogue
with feeling no need to
actually repair for the harm
the University has caused
Palestinian
students
(is
problematic),”
Saperstein
said. “There needs to be an
acknowledgment first that
we can’t just talk to each
other, we need to change the
material conditions of what
it means to live in Palestine
and to be a Palestinian in the
U.S. when there’s so much
suppression.”
The
Jewish
Resource
Center and Chabad House of
Ann Arbor did not respond
to requests for comment.
Hillel could not provide a
statement to The Daily in
time for publication.
University
spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen told The
Daily the University aims
to
provide
an
inclusive
environment for all students.
“The
University
works
hard each and every day to
foster an environment that
supports all our students
and
their
diverse
faith
traditions,”
Broekhuizen
said.
“This
includes
our
work
to
support
Jewish
students and to call out anti-
Semitism, which is anathema
to our mission and values. We
do and will, of course, comply
with the law. But, more
importantly, we do this work
because it is the right thing
to do.”
ORDER
From Page 1A
SHIFTS
From Page 1A