“Even
though
just
inherently in this mock trial
room, learning that cases
weren’t finite and outcomes
were
creative
and
many
different things could happen
inside them — after this long
observation, I knew as an artist
I must turn to some kind of
action,” McClellan said.
McClellan
also
explored
the
role
of
storytelling
in
a
courtroom
and
how
it
contributes to the infinite
uncertainty
of
truth.
She
said she sees litigation as a
place where storytelling and
performance intersect.
She also said she considers
“liveness” vital to a courtroom.
McClellan
suggested
that the act of witnessing
contributes to a collective
narrative in the legal space
and that this public gesture
is just as important as the
performers in the trials. She
said the openness of this space
plays an important role in its
subjectivity, which shows that
truth is not an absolute but
rather something people share
with each other.
“Witness is a powerful act.
Witness is a presence but also
a retelling,” McClellan said.
“It’s active and social and
political in nature.”
After the Artist Talk, the
audience headed to the Irving
Stenn, Jr. Family Gallery to
experience the performance
itself.
Different
from,
yet
imitative, of the traditional
courtroom, Witness Lab was
painted in a shade of light blue
with counsel tables on both
sides.
Camille Casemier, School
of Art & Design and Music,
Theatre
&
Dance
junior,
said she has been a huge fan
of McClellan’s work and is
interested in her research-
based art.
“The interaction in between
the
courtroom
and
the
religious space is something
that I wasn’t really aware of
so I thought that was really
interesting,” Casemier said.
“As an artist who also likes
to do a lot of research, it felt
really affirming to hear (from)
someone a lot further along in
their career.”
Conner
Darling,
a
performance
artist
and
University alum, expressed his
interest in public ritual and
McClellan’s medium of art.
“I
enjoyed
her
point
about
simulation
versus
reenactment,” Darling said.
“Simulations
can
allow
anything to happen effectively
and a lot of what she has
done is creating the space for
things to happen as opposed to
prescribing certain events.”
Reporter Lola Yang can be
reached
at
lolayang@umich.
edu.
Despite the common recognition
of Mars’s alleged misbehavior,
Jordan
said
employees
felt
uncomfortable speaking up about
Mars.
“The company had such a
culture where we were kind of
trapped and we couldn’t really say
anything about it and bring up that
it was so fucked up,” they said.
Jake agreed, noting employees
wouldn’t speak up because they
didn’t want to lose their jobs and
the company was doing well.
Sam echoed this, saying the
company was lucrative and many
of the employees had strong stock
options.
Sexual misconduct was not the
only trouble with Clinc’s culture,
Jordan said. They claimed Mars
was prone to angry outbursts at
employees, and he and Tang would
engage in intense fights at work.
Other sources The Daily spoke
to supported this claim. Ryan
suggested the fighting was a tool
Mars and Tang used to intimidate
employees.
“It was marital spats, but to an
absolutely extreme degree,” Jordan
said. “Swearing, storming out of the
room, slamming doors. Married
couples fight, but it was psychotic,
almost.”
According to Jake, Mars crossed
professional boundaries in the
way he criticized and talked about
employees.
“He definitely talked about
employees in a very unprofessional
manner,” Jake said. “He would
mention
people’s
physical
appearances, he would mention if
they were a good worker or a bad
worker. He would openly talk shit
about employees pretty regularly.”
Jake said employees would be
prone to personal attacks for their
mistakes and Mars’s temperament
could change instantaneously.
“He’s very outwardly friendly,
like ‘I’m your best friend,’” Jake
said. “But the instant you get on
his bad side, you do something that
upsets him, you’re dead to him. It
flips like a switch, it’s crazy.”
Sam supported this, saying
the workplace environment was
confusing because Mars and Tang
were volatile. For instance, he noted
Tang could be kind — even hugging
him on his birthday — when she’d
just been screaming at someone in
a conference room.
Commenting on the workplace
dynamic at Clinc, Ryan said Mars
and his wife would manipulate
employees by playing “good cop,
bad cop.”
“Once you’re on their radar, they
choose which of them is going to be
nice and which is going to be mean
to you, so that they can always have
one of their unit on your side,” Ryan
said.
Jordan said the toxic culture
got to the point where employees
would freeze upon hearing even
a video recording of Mars’s voice,
afraid that he was in the room.
“His
presence
is
just
so
dominating and it’s scary,” Jordan
said.
A
major
part
of
Mars’s
misbehavior, Jordan said, was
substance use. They said alcohol
is a focal part of Clinc’s workplace
culture — employees store alcohol
in the company fridge, drink during
Friday meetings and often go to
bars after work — and this fueled
Mars’s toxicity.
Jake pointed out alcohol use and
underage drinking are common at
many tech companies, but claimed
Mars was unprofessional in the
extent of his drinking. According
to Sam, at the first retreat he went
to, the company brought 600 cans
of beer and seven handles of vodka.
Emily noted Tang was a heavy
drinker as well, participating in the
many happy hours and after-work
drinking sessions. She said the
couple would often show up late to
work as a result of their drinking.
“They show up oftentimes late
because they both like to drink,”
Emily said. “And then they have all
the liquor in the office.”
Ryan said he thinks Mars
used alcohol as an excuse for
inappropriate behavior. Ryan added
he was unimpressed by a statement
Mars made in a company email,
saying he had stopped drinking.
Referencing the incident at
Revel and Roll, Ryan said he does
not believe Mars’s inappropriate
actions can be completely pinned
on alcohol. According to Ryan,
Mars winked knowingly at him the
day after the incident.
“As far as I know, on bowling
night, he was only just drinking
beer, so unless he slammed down
15 beers, he shouldn’t have been
so out of control,” Ryan said. “It’s
definitely not that he was blackout
drunk the night before. It’s pretty
clear that he knew he was trying to
manipulate me, and then the wink
was some sort of signal.”
Sexual harassment and alcohol
abuse aside, Clinc was rife with
professional issues, according to
the sources who spoke to The Daily.
For instance, Ryan said, Mars and
Tang would cite themselves in their
research papers to inflate their
citation counts. Sam added there
was some suspicious use of funds;
he claimed Mars and Tang used
investor money to pay for a set of
condos they owned downtown.
Emily said the couple would fire
employees often, especially when
employees
expressed
concern
about the company. Sam agreed,
sharing a story about an intern
who told management he was not
interested in pursuing a full-time
position and was immediately fired.
Moreover, Ryan said, Mars
would
lie
to
clients
about
the
capabilities
of
Clinc’s
conversational AI platform. Mars’s
exaggerations
meant
workers
would have to pull all-nighters
to deliver on his promises. Emily
backed up this claim.
“When an investor or client
would come in and they’d be like,
‘Oh, it would be cool if we could do
that,’ as soon as that would happen,
Jason would be like, ‘Oh, we
already have that done, it’s so super
intelligent, just give us two days to
get it ready,’” Ryan said.
In addition, Ryan said Tang
and Mars would select graduate
students from their University lab
that they knew they could easily
manipulate into working overtime.
“That’s their perfect worker,
someone you can pressure into
working 70 hours a week, basically
unpaid, for the company and for
their own research,” Ryan said.
According to Emily, Mars would
target lower-level employees or
those with less power in order to
avoid retaliation.
“He’s smart enough to pick on
people who are lower level than he
is, much lower level, to avoid some
of the allegations,” Emily said.
Ryan, who quit shortly after the
bowling alley incident and left his
doctorate program, said it took him
time to process how unhealthy the
workplace environment at Clinc
was.
“It’s so multidimensional how
toxic it is,” Ryan said. “Once you’re
there, it kind of infects your brain
and it takes you like two months to
actually withdraw from it and get
back to normal.”
Overall, Sam said, the culture
at Clinc was complicated. The
management’s behavior was clearly
inappropriate, but Mars also had
many positive attributes, according
to Sam — for example, he worked
hard to get talented students
from his parents’ native Guyana
internships at Clinc.
“Jason’s so charismatic and so
persuasive, he has a way of getting
inside your head,” Sam said. “He
has this way of looking at people
where it’s like he’s looking into your
soul.”
U-M responds to the claims
against Mars
In the wake of the allegations,
University
students
and
administration are reflecting on
Mars’s role at the University.
Multiple
students
have
commented
on
the
blurred
boundaries between Mars’s class
and his startup.
Taylor, who took EECS 498 in
Fall 2019, said Mars came to about
three to five lectures over the
course of the semester, saddling
another lecturer — and Clinc
employee — with the bulk of the
teaching. He added Mars was
unresponsive to emails related to
the course.
“He was pretty explicit about
one of the reasons he did the class
was to try to recruit UMich CS
undergrads to go work at Clinc,”
Taylor said. “At the final demo,
there was a Clinc recruiter there
handing out business cards.”
Taylor
said
the
distinction
between Mars’s professorship and
his outside work was hazy.
“My kind of perception was
something along the lines of he
didn’t really think that the rules
and boundaries applied to him,”
Taylor said.
Sam claimed Mars and Tang
abused their ties to the University.
For example, he said, most of Mars’s
graduate students also worked at
Clinc, and they felt they had to stay
at Clinc in order to keep their spot
in the doctorate program.
“Jason and Lingjia had a way of
just intertwining everything,” he
said.
In an email to The Daily Friday
morning, University spokesman
Rick Fitzgerald clarified Mars’s
status as an associate professor
remains
unchanged.
He
re-confirmed Mars’s employment
Sunday morning.
“The behavior reported in this
story is inconsistent with the values
in the College of Engineering and
entire University of Michigan
community,” Fitzgerald wrote in
the email on Friday.
In addition to retaining his
employment status, Mars stayed
on as a speaker at Friday’s TEDx
event.
The day The Verge published its
reporting on Thursday, an EECS
498 instructor made a post on the
class’s Piazza page, acknowledging
the article and clarifying the course
has in no way been restructured.
An EECS 498 instructor made a
Piazza post assuring students the
class would not be restructured
following the allegations against
Mars.
On Friday morning, Engineering
professor Westley Weimer sent out
a lengthy statement to his EECS
481 class, addressing students’
concerns in light of the allegations
against Mars and other University
administrators and faculty.
In his statement, Weimer said
though
he
cannot
personally
address investigations into sexual
misconduct claims, he has set up
an anonymous dropbox and wants
students to feel comfortable coming
forward. He also noted there are
many other issues, like wait times
at office hours, transparency in
hiring processes and disrespect
towards students from course staff,
that the CSE department needs to
address.
“I may not be able to personally
affect
university-level
policy
about
sexual
harassment
allegations, but I am working with
a number of faculty members
and
administrators
who
have
generously volunteered time or
money to address some of those
other climate concerns,” Weimer
wrote.
Also on Friday, computer science
and engineering faculty released a
statement calling for Mars to take a
leave of absence, according to The
Verge. The School of Information
announced it would be suspending
its recruiting relationship with
Clinc.
Late Friday afternoon, the Dean
of Engineering Alec Gallimore sent
out an email condemning the recent
allegations of sexual misconduct
and stating the college would soon
take action.
“Let me state in the clearest
terms — the reported behaviors
are not consistent with our values,”
Gallimore wrote. “Although I do
not have details to share today, I
want to assure you that we will
address these matters and take
action as appropriate. We are
working toward solutions to not
only address immediate issues, but
to also support a culture of respect
within the entire College.”
In
an
email
to
CSE
undergraduates
Saturday
afternoon, CSE Chair Brian Noble
said he had taken a few steps to
address the allegations on Friday.
He said CSE faculty had discussed
the department’s climate issues. In
addition, he said he asked Weimer
to accept a position as Associate
Chair of Diversity, Equity &
Inclusion and had launched two
new student committees.
“There are profound problems
with CSE’s climate. I know that
there is a lot of frustration, pain and
anger, and I share it,” Noble wrote.
CSE Chair Brian Noble sent
an email to undergrads Sunday
addressing the climate in the
program.
Jake said Mars should absolutely
not stay on as a professor.
“If he’s being this touchy around
employees, I would feel incredibly
unsafe going to an individual office
hour with him,” Jake said. “There’s
no positives of him staying at
Michigan.”
Emily said she takes issue not
only with Mars’s status at the
University but with his wife’s
professorship as well. Tang is
an assistant professor, not an
associate, and her Linkedin says
she is currently on leave from the
University.
“I would not send my kids to
a university like that, knowing
the professors have that kind of
conduct,” she said.
Reporter Alice Tracey can be
reached at atracey@michigandaily.
com.
This
committee
consults
with
and
advises
the
vice
president for student life.
Cervetti said they have been
discussing how to think about
the election in relation to the
campus
climate
and
issues
facing students. She has been
particularly interested in using
the election to help University
students think about their role
as citizens and as an opportunity
to support civic conversations
on campus. She said this might
help U-M win the Big Ten
Voting Challenge, a competition
across the Big Ten Conference
to
increase
student
voter
registration and turnout.
MaryJo Banasik, director of
the Faculty Senate Office, said
she wants to foster different
ways to promote student life. She
said she will work to promote
democratic involvement.
“We know at the University
of
Michigan,
our
students
are interested in all kinds of
pathways in impacting public
life,” Banasik said. “We will be
focusing on voting and some of
the key skills and commitments
toward democratic nature.”
Banasik
also
discussed
declining support for democratic
processes. She noted 17 percent
of U.S. residents agree the
government can be trusted to do
what is right always or most of
the time.
“It’s important to mention this
to give you a sense of, ‘Where are
we in this context, and why is
there renewed focus considering
civic engagement as part of
the
Michigan
education?’”
Banasik said. “Our hope at
Ginsberg Center and working
with partners across campus
and some of our national civic
partners, we know we want
change in that scenario, creating
confidence in the democratic
structures, processes, et cetera
that go beyond voting and are
also about discussion, dialogue
and information in news media.”
Erin Byrnes, leader of the
Big Ten Voting Challenge at the
Ginsberg
Center,
mentioned
there was a large jump in voting
in 2018 with 41 percent voting, a
26.7 percent increase from 2014.
“It’s a lot of great work there,”
Byrnes said. “We nearly tripled
our voting rate and it was kind of
our high-in-the-sky goal … With
the hard work of our student
team and our staff we were able
to do that.”
Byrnes also commented on
the high projections for the voter
turnout this year in the U.S.
“In looking ahead to 2020, in
the fall, projection is around 65
percent turnout among eligible
turnouts which will be the
highest turnout since 1908, so
over 100 years,” Byrnes said. “We
are seeing a lot of movement, a lot
of activity, a lot of energy.”
Dave Waterhouse, associate
director of the Ginsberg Center,
discussed how to incorporate
civic engagement into working
with students. He mentioned the
Ginsberg Center is compiling a
group of resources for faculty
to connect their work and
disciplines
to
promote
civic
engagement among students in a
nonpartisan way.
“Even
just
asking
the
questions: ‘Are you voting?
Do you have a voting plan?
Are you registered to vote?’ in
your classes,” Waterhouse said.
LSA senior Camilla Lizundia, a
member of the RC, discussed the
academic attributes of a typical RC
student and the sense of community
she felt the RC embodied.
“When I think of an RC student,
I think of someone who’s really
engaged,” Lizundia said. “Someone
who’s
perhaps
interested
in
organizing, someone who enjoys
learning languages and who enjoys
the arts. When I think of the RC
as a whole, the word that comes to
mind is community.”
Badgley further talked about
her experience as a member of
RC faculty and the learning that
she feels comes with the RC
community.
“One comes here as a faculty
member, as a kind of a co-learner,”
Badgley said. “So I feel as though
in my classes, even though it’s true
I have some expert knowledge
that I can impart, I try to point out
questions and topics for which I
don’t have the answers. Because
I’m genuinely interested in hearing
what my students think, and they
often have really unusual and
valuable insights.”
The discussion then moved
on to talk of diversity within the
RC. Steven Ward, an associate
professor at the RC, commented on
how a perceived lack of diversity
can be attributed to the RC being
a microcosm of the broader
University community.
“I do think that racial diversity
in particular and other forms or
types of diversity are problems
and concerns in the RC,” Ward
said. “And I will say that that’s also
symptomatic of the RC, but also
symptomatic of the University.
Something that I think we should
be mindful of and talk about and
try to work on, and maybe beat
ourselves up a little bit but not too
much. If we want to beat up on
somebody it should be the whole
University.”
Badgely
responded
with
a
comment on the active effort to
increase diversity within faculty.
“We are trying to be more
proactive in hiring,” Badgley said.
“For example, we just had a joint
search with the English department
for a position in creative non-fiction
and we rewrote the job ad in a
way that specifically encouraged
people
with
experience
with
underrepresented minorities to
apply. And we also sent the ad to
60 colleges and universities that
are especially populated with
underrepresented minorities.”
The discussion then moved
to talk of alienation within the
RC community and fitting in,
particularly
with
respect
to
international students.
“Yes, we do have a very low
retention rate,” Lizundia said.
“But there are a lot of factors that
go into it … I would say to be more
specific at what I’m trying to get
at, the international community is
not very welcome in a lot of social
cliques. Absolutely I think we need
to be having more conversations
like this, more town halls … and I
think the addition of task courses
is excellent but there needs to be
more.”
Speakers then reminisced about
the roots and history of the RC. RC
drama lecturer Kate Mendeloff
talked about the tradition of
student self-governance within the
RC.
“Certainly when the RC was
founded, the students ran it,”
Mendeloff said. “They had a
student board that was as powerful
in making policy as the faculty. I
think it’s part of the tradition.”
Reporter Sunskriti Paranjape can
be reached at sunspara@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 — 3
ALLEGATIONS
From Page 2
RC
From Page 1
SENATE
From Page 1
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
MOBILIZE
From Page 1
It’s about a team of people working
together, respecting one another
and elevating each other’s voices.”
Mobilize is holding a mass
meeting on Wednesday night in
the Ford School of Public Policy
building.
Kaplan has previously served
as CSG’s vice-chair of the finance
committee and as a member of
the Student Organization Funding
Committee.
She was also chair of the Engage
Party, headed by Ben Gerstein,
current president of CSG and
Public Policy junior, in last spring’s
election and currently serves as
chief of staff in his administration.
Before this, Kaplan held a seat in the
Assembly as an LSA representative.
Nandigama
previously
served as CSG chief of staff in
Daniel Greene’s administration.
Nandigama told The Daily that
she and Kaplan created Mobilize
with the goal of ensuring CSG is
listening to student voices as much
as possible.
“We really just want people to
feel like we’re not going to sit on
some pedestal being president and
vice president, but we really want
to work with students,” Nandigama
said. “We’re really hoping to uplift
different student voices because it’s
not just us at the table.”
In addition to her work in
CSG, Nandigama noted her roles
within the South Asian Awareness
Network, the University’s Office
of Undergraduate Multi-Ethnic
Student Affairs and Blueprints
for
Pangea,
an
organization
committed to mitigating medical
resource inefficiencies.
The party does not currently
have a platform. On Mobilize’s
website, it said it is meeting with
student groups to “effectively
grasp student needs and craft
meaningful policy.” Mobilize is
expecting to release a platform
next week, though it noted it will
be constantly changing as the party
hears from more people.
Public Policy junior Miriam
Chung,
outreach
director
of
Mobilize, said the party wants to
have conversations with student
groups before creating policies
to bring in multiple voices and
better integrate CSG in the campus
community. Chung said she joined
Mobilize because this mission
resonated with her.
“If we’re running as a body or as
an entity that’s really supposed to
represent student voices, then we
should ask them what they want,
and then implement it into our
policy platforms and what we’re
really advocating for,” Chung said.
“In turn, that really integrates a
lot of different kinds of people and
voices into our story.”
The website has forms for
individual students to share ideas
or for organizations to arrange
meetings with party members.
WITNESS
From Page 1
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com