Collins was the Joan and 
Sanford Weill Dean of Public 
Policy for 10 years. When she 
left her post in 2017, Collins 
described 
her 
efforts 
to 
improve the school’s visibility 
in a farewell letter.
“I was a really staunch 
supporter that you don’t talk 
until you have something to 
say — you don’t want to be 
known as the wind bag; you 
want to be known for having 
done the analysis, for having 
depth of understanding of 
what the challenges are,” 
Collins wrote. “It’s one of 
the 
reasons 
I’ve 
always 
cared about having a foot in 
academia, because that’s one 
of the things academics stand 
for.”
Collins also sits on the 
Board of Directors for the 
Federal 
Reserve 
Bank 
of 
Chicago and is a research 
associate 
at 
the 
National 
Bureau 
of 
Economic 
Research. 
She 
is 
also 
a 
member of the Council on 

Foreign Relations.
She 
holds 
a 
bachelor’s 
degree 
in 
economics 
from 
Harvard 
University 
and a doctorate from the 
Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. She has taught 
at Harvard and Georgetown 
University, 
during 
which 
time she was also a senior 
fellow 
at 
The 
Brookings 
Institution.
Currently, Collins oversees 
a global engagement seminar 
that takes 15 undergraduates 
to 
Costa 
Rica 
to 
study 
prevalent policy issues in the 
Central American country. 
In a message to students, she 
confirmed she will continue 
to teach the course and will 
still travel with the class to 
Costa Rica over spring break.
Public 
Policy 
senior 
Brianna 
Wells 
took 
the 
course 
with 
Collins 
last 
year. Wells said she found 
Collins to be personable and 
is excited for her to take on 
the role.
“She definitely pushes you 
to be a better student and 
has really high standards for 
quality,” Wells said. “For part 
of the class we went to Costa 

Rica over spring break and 
she’s a really great professor 
in the classroom, but then I 
just realized how good of a 
person she is on a personal 
level. She’s very kind, very 
understanding 
and 
cares 
about students.”
As acting provost, Collins 
fills the position Philbert 
vacated earlier this month. 
Philbert 
was 
placed 
on 
administrative leave Jan. 21 
after multiple allegations of 
sexual assault were reported 
to the University on Jan. 
16-17. An investigation is 
currently underway.
The provost is the second-
highest ranking official at 
the University and the chief 
academic officer. The provost 
works with the president to 
determine the University’s 
academic goals and distribute 
resources 
to 
achieve 
these 
goals. 
The 
provost 
previously 
oversaw 
the 
Office of Institutional Equity, 
which 
investigates 
sexual 
misconduct 
allegations, 
though this duty has been 
moved to Richard S. Holcomb, 
associate vice president for 
Human Resources.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, January 31, 2020 — 3

TRUMP
From Page 1

“What I find particularly 
important is President Roth, 
as he has done consistently 
throughout his career, writes 
to his audiences, not about 
problems that are solved, but 
issues that he serves in real-
time,” Young said.
Roth 
began 
his 
talk 
by 
explaining the title of his book 
and lecture, defining what “safe 
enough” spaces were to him as a 
university president. 
“A safe enough space at a 
college or university is a space 
in which students are going to 
not be subject to harassment and 
intimidation,” Roth said. “But 
not so safe that you go to class 
and you never contribute.” 
Roth 
wrote 
his 
book 
as 
a 
defense 
of 
students 
who 
protest speakers on campus, 
who critique professors with 
differing opinions and who serve 
as activists on college campuses 
fighting 
for 
marginalized 
groups. He said these students 
are often criticized for placing 
too much emphasis on political 
correctness and social justice, 
but 
he 
disagrees 
with 
this 
characterization.
“People like to make fun of 
this stuff,” Roth said. “I’ve read 
so many books that criticize 
college students, especially this 
generation of students, and they 
criticize them in such a way that 
the picture is unrecognizable to 
me … I see a lot of students in my 
class when they come to protest 
my decisions or my lack of 
decisions. Even when they came 
to protest, I just didn’t recognize 
this caricature of the ‘snowflake’ 
or the ‘intolerant social justice 
warrior.’” 
Roth also criticized professors 

who feel threatened by students 
protesting 
their 
courses 
or 
protesting university decisions, 
pointing out professors have 
a duty to work with and teach 
all students no matter their 
opinions. 
“I do think when you start 
complaining about students as 
a professor, you’ve got to start 
planning your retirement,” Roth 
said. “Because you get the cards 
you get, you don’t get to complain 
about your students. You figure 
out how to teach them.”
He also dove into political 
correctness on campuses. Roth 
noted all presidents from the 
President George H.W. Bush 
forward 
gave 
speeches 
on 
political correctness, using the 
concept as a weapon. 
“It’s 
just 
something 
you 
use against your enemies,” he 
said. “It’s weaponized. Trump 
brought that forward in a really 
dramatic way during the primary 
campaign. When there was a 
question he didn’t like, he’d say 
political correctness was killing 
our country, and this seems to 
work because there is a view … 
that what happens to colleges 
and universities is a kind of 
hothouse 
environment 
where 
professors can indoctrinate their 
students.” 
In response to this view, 
Roth said he has yet to meet one 
professor aiming to indoctrinate 
their students in a course. At the 
same time, he said professors 
want to have the freedom and 
right to teach what they want in 
their courses. 
“There is a tension there 
because, after all, professors 
should have academic freedom 
to teach their courses in the way 
they want to,” Roth said. “They 
certainly react to pressure from 
students 
to 
change 
courses, 
sometimes from pressure from 

administrators... but they do 
insist that even if someone has an 
intention, they have the right to 
teach their course a certain way.”
To 
end 
his 
talk, 
Roth 
emphasized higher education as a 
public good, encouraging faculty, 
educators and administrators to 
widen their lenses, particularly 
in intellectual diversity. 
“If we take diversity of ideas 
that we cultivate on campus 
and increase the ability of our 

neighbors, and others who live 
in this country, to work together 
to solve more problems, I think 
we’d be doing a great service to 
the country,” Roth said.
Rackham student Jeffrey Grim 
attended the lecture as an affiliate 
of NCID to hear a university 
president’s perspective on free 
speech on college campuses. 
“From a scholarly and practical 
standpoint, and I thought it’d be 
interesting to hear,” Grim said. 

“I’ve heard scholars talk about 
it, I’ve heard practitioners … it 
was helpful to hear a perspective 
from a college president who 
is intellectually interested in 
this, but also has to manage an 
institution.”
Grim 
said 
he 
appreciated 
Roth’s discussion of the impact 
outside forces can have on 
on-campus issues.
“His 
overall 
speech 
kind 
of talked about institutional 

context matters, how political 
climate and personal background 
matters,” Grim said. “When 
we’re thinking about the impact 
it has on people, the impact 
speech has on people. Another 
takeaway was thinking about 
the role of executive leaders or 
leaders on college campuses and 
promoting different types of 
views and perspectives and the 
structures that come along with 
that.”

A/PIA
From Page 1

KOREMATSU
From Page 1

PROVOST 
From Page 1

He 
also 
expressed 
his 
excitement 
with 
both 
the 
USMCA and Trump’s choice 
of the warehouse as his first 
stop after signing the deal 
into law yesterday. 
“Many 
are 
aware 
that 
we are a strong supporter 
of 
USMCA,” 
Kamsickas 
said. “We’re excited to host 
President Trump and the 
first official White House 
event following 
signing 
(USMCA) into 
law, 
and 
to 
hear from him 
directly on a 
topic 
that 
is 
important 
for 
our 
company 
and 
for 
our 
industry.” 
Trump began 
his speech by 
promoting the 
newly 
signed 
trade deal and 
continued 
to 
boast 
about 
it 
throughout 
the approximately 30-minute 
speech. He noted the deal’s 
projected ability to create 
approximately 80,000 auto 
manufacturing jobs. 
“The 
USMCA 
is 
an 
especially 
big 
win 
for 
American 
auto 
workers,” 
Trump said. “We’re producing 
jobs like we’ve never seen 
before. We’re producing jobs. 
So I just want to say that I’ve 
kept my promise.” 
Trump 
also 
mentioned 
other provisions of the deal 
that are aimed to create more 
auto industry jobs in North 
America, 
strengthen 
labor 
laws in Mexico and allow for 
more trade between Mexican, 
Canadian and American wine 

and cheese products. 
He wrapped up his speech 
by sharing why he felt the 
Dana Inc. warehouse was the 
perfect place for him to speak. 
“Dana Corp. is the perfect 
place to honor the immortal 
legacy 
of 
the 
American 
worker,” Trump said. “I just 
want to congratulate all of 
the people at Dana. You have 
all been outstanding and it 
really is the great people right 
now — the great people that 
work here — those people that 
can do such precision work. 
You’re the ones that are doing 

it, and you’re the ones in our 
country and the people who 
we have great respect for.”
Congressman Andy Levin, 
D-Bloomfield 
Township, 
posted a video to his Facebook 
page 
criticizing 
Trump’s 
policies prior to his visit, 
saying the policies negatively 
affect the working class.
“I’ve looked at this in great 
detail,” Levin said in the 
video. “I wish I were wrong, 
but I’m afraid to tell you that 
the USMCA is gonna continue 
the stream of U.S. jobs, middle 
class jobs, good paying jobs 
in manufacturing, down to 
Mexico where they’re turned 
into super low-wage jobs.”
Mark 
Arrowsmith, 

longtime Dana Inc. employee, 
spoke to The Daily after the 
event about his excitement for 
USMCA and Trump’s choice 
to come to Dana to talk about 
the new trade deal.
“I 
was 
excited 
about 
(USMCA) because I’ve been 
a manufacturer for over 42 
years and to see (jobs) come 
back to Michigan and the 
United States, really makes 
me 
excited,” 
Arrowsmith 
said. “The biggest challenge 
was getting workers back in 
here because manufacturing 
was almost a lost trade where 
people didn’t 
want 
to 
do 
it, but more 
people 
now 
seem 
like 
they 
want 
to get back 
into it. Dana 
has a history 
with building 
tanks, 
so 
I 
think 
this 
was a good 
setting 
for 
him to talk 
about 
the 
trade (deal).”
LSA 
freshman 
Nicholas Schuler, freshman 
chair 
of 
the 
University’s 
chapter 
of 
College 
Republicans, 
said 
he 
was 
happy with Trump’s decisions 
to leave NAFTA and visit 
Michigan, though he did not 
attend the speech.
“He is keeping in touch 
with the people who got 
him elected — they love 
him, he loves them,” Schuler 
said. “The trade deal was so 
important because NAFTA 
was an American job killer. 
Plain and simple. It made our 
labor market less competitive 
and a more America friendly 
trade agreement was needed.”

In an interview with The 
Daily, Korematsu spoke on 
the legacy of her father and 
the message she hopes Fred 
Korematsu Day will impart 
to the public. 
“You 
have 
to 
say 
something 
in 
order 
to 
make 
that 
difference,” 
Korematsu said. “It’s about 
courage. It took courage 
for the coram nobis legal 
team to reopen the case. 
It’s about upholding and 

abiding by the civil liberties 
in the constitution. Our 
democracy is at risk.”
LSA 
freshman 
Haneen 
Tout 
said 
 
her 
biggest 
takeaway from the event 
was how necessary it is to 
look back.
“All these things that 
have happened in the past 
are there for us to see and 
learn from,” Tout said. “The 
Supreme 
Court 
and 
the 
government seem like they 
are choosing to look back on 
these things.”
LSA 
freshman 
Grace 
Stephan also commented 

on what students can do 
regarding the issues brought 
up during the event. 
“As students, we should 
stay educated about issues,” 
Stephan said. “Going out 
of your way and learning 
things from people who 
have different experiences 
than 
you 
and 
maybe 
that’s novels, movies or 
attending events like these. 
People who have had these 
experiences and have lived 
them, which I think is the 
most meaningful way of 
getting involved.”

“We 
thought 
it 
was 
important to have a dialogue 
surrounding A/PIA women in 
the community,” Guytingco 
said. 
“Coming 
from 
an 
intersectional context and 
viewpoint, we thought it’d 
be cool to have this dialogue 
about stereotypes and what 
it is to be an A/PIA woman 
within these contexts.”
Co-Chair Michelle Byun, 
an LSA freshman, moderated 
the event and set the norms 
for everyone to follow when 
discussing sensitive topics. 
Presentation topics included 
racism, 
sexism, 
historical 
stereotypes, 
discrimination 
and colorism.
During 
the 
group 
discussions, 
students 
discussed 
the 
“model 
minority” myth surrounding 
the A/PIA community. Other 
experiences 
brought 
up 
include being asked “Where 
are you from?”, racialized 
catcalling and fetishizing of 
multiracial babies. 
Byun talked about colorism, 
specifically mentioning skin 
lightening 
products 
and 
beauty 
stereotypes. 
Other 
attendees brought up the 

different beauty standards 
in America compared to Asia 
and 
how 
the 
differences 
of 
skin 
color 
between 
siblings has impacted their 
experiences as an A/PIA. 
Students 
who 
were 
A/
PIA and also identified with 
another identity discussed 
the 
intersectionality 
that 
exists within their cultures 
and how this impacts their 
experience as a person of 
color. Business sophomore 
Sarah Morgan said she was 
able to share her perspective 
as 
a 
biracial 
Black 
and 
Filipino woman, which was 
unique 
compared 
to 
the 
majority of the attendees at 
the event.
“As 
a 
bi-racial 
Asian 
woman, I decided to come 
because I knew this would be 
a good opportunity to speak 
on 
my 
experiences 
with 
my 
Filipino 
background,” 
Morgan said. “I really enjoyed 
talking about the stereotypes 
because as a Black person, 
I was able to talk about the 
model minority myth as well 
as colorism that I’ve seen in 
the Filipino community. I was 
able to bring that perspective 
into 
the 
group 
dialogue 
tonight.”
During the presentation, 
many 
examples 
of 

misrepresentation of A/PIA 
womxn were shared with the 
audience. One example was 
the dragon lady stereotype 
and lotus flower stereotype, 
depicting that womxn were 
either seductive or easily 
seduced. 
Students 
shared 
examples of discriminatory 
incidents within a personal, 
professional and academic 
setting. 
Co-Chair Dim Mang, an 
LSA senior, said the event 
was not meant to represent 
all perspectives within the A/
PIA community, but rather to 
start a dialogue among those 
who have something to share.
“I think the event went 
really well. We tried to be 
very aware of the fact that 
especially 
when 
you’re 
talking about a community as 
diverse as Asian Americans, 
you can’t cover every topic 
well and you can’t cover 
every facet well,” Mang said. 
“Something that we wanted 
to be really conscious of was 
using our own experiences 
and not trying to speak for 
other voices and experiences. 
In those terms, I think it went 
really well and we’re really 
trying to improve as the 
semester goes.”

WESLEYAN
From Page 1

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
President of Wesleyan University Michael Roth discusses his new book, “Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, 
and Political Correctness on College Campuses,” Thursday morning at the Michigan Union.

The biggest challenge was getting 
workers back in here because 
manufacturing was almost a lost trade 
where people didn’t want to do it, but 
more people now seem like they want to 
get back into it.