michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, February 20, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

University 
of 
Michigan 
students are opting to take 
math classes at other schools 
because of the reputation of the 
department’s classes being more 
difficult, students told The Daily.
Students 
interviewed 
by 
The Daily said the University’s 
math classes pose a significant 
challenge and threaten their 
ability to maintain a high grade 
point average. These classes 
generally involve calculus, which 

fulfills many prerequisites for 
majors across all disciplines.
Courses taken at community 
colleges 
can 
be 
transferred 
for credit to fulfill graduation 
requirements 
or 
major 
prerequisites. Students need to 
receive a C or higher in the course 
for the credits to transfer. The 
catch: the grade does not affect 
students’ GPA.
Engineering 
sophomore 
Lauren McNamee, a prospective 
mechanical engineering major, 
opted to take the equivalent of 
Math 215: Multivariable and 

Vector Calculus the summer 
after her freshman year at 
Pennsylvania State University’s 
Abington campus in Abington, 
Pennsylvania. 
Like McNamee, many students 
choose to take classes in the 
spring or summer semesters to 
lessen the course load throughout 
the normal school year.
“I actually took the summer 
class as a way to sort of prove to 
myself that I could do well in a 
calc class if it wasn’t Michigan 
math,” McNamee said. “And I 
actually was able to get an A in 

a summer class when I probably 
would’ve gotten a C+ in Calc III. 
I don’t know for sure, but from 
what I’ve heard, Michigan math 
is just the worst.”
The College of Engineering 
Peer Mentor Program offers 
incoming students resources to 
encourage student involvement 
and development of academic, 
social and personal interests. 
As an Engineering peer mentor, 
McNamee 
helps 
incoming 
College of Engineering students 
transition to college life. 

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 74
©2020 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

C L A S S I F I E D S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

GEO talks 
housing, 
climate at 
town hall

CAMPUS LIFE
STEM majors choose to take math 
classes at community colleges, online

Undergraduates take calculus at other schools due to academic concerns

GOVERNMENT

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

JOHN GRIEVE
For the Daily

KRISTINA ZHENG 
Daily Staff Reporter

Panel features former 
U.S Representative 
Sander Levin, policy 
expert Bama Athreya 

See STEM, Page 3

See EXXON, Page 3

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
University of Michigan Law students protest against the law firm that represents ExxonMobil at a recruitment event at Pizza House Wednesday evening.

Protesters show up at Paul, Weiss interest meeting, ask firm to drop gas company

CSG President expresses regret, 
rejects previous political stance

Ford talk 
discusses 
U.S. labor
and trade

Graduate Employees 
Organization explored 
affordable living in A2 
at community forum

Gerstein apologizes 
for 2017 comments 
involving Israeli-
Palestinian conflict

Multicultural organizations at 
the University of Michigan have 
called for Ben Gerstein, president 
of Central Student Government 
and Public Policy junior, to 
apologize for remarks he made 
in a video and article about 
Palestine while in high school.
The 
video, 
published 
on 
YouTube by the North Town 
News Magazine on May 23, 2017, 
features 
Gerstein 
discussing 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
with host and pro-Israel activist 
Avy Meyers. Gerstein spoke as 
a member of his high school’s 
pro-Israel student group, which 
he said prepares students for the 
anti-Israel activity they will see 
on college campuses.
“There should be a test for 
what type of people deserve a 
state and what type of people 
don’t,” Gerstein said in the clip. 
“I don’t think the Palestinian 
people, with rejecting constant 
peace deals, with their financing 
of their terror, with their raising 

kids to hate people clearly 
because of their religion. I don’t 
think that people deserve a state 
at this point in time. Until we 
see a significant change in the 
Palestinian mentality, until we 
see a significant change in the 
Palestinian leadership, I don’t 
think they deserve a state at this 
point.”
The Arab Student Association 
and Students For Allied Freedom 
and Equality (SAFE) circulated 
a statement on social media late 
Tuesday night demanding public 
apologies from both Gerstein 
and CSG, as well as anti-bias and 
anti-Islamophobia training for 
CSG members. The statement 
said 
the 
community 
needs 
public 
acknowledgment 
and 
administrative action in order to 
heal.
“Ben Gerstein sat across the 
executive board of the Arab 
Student Association and claimed 
that he seeks to build a sense of 
safety on this campus, but how does 
he expect us to feel safe when he 
does not even recognize our people 
as worthy of basic human rights 
and humanity?” the statement read. 

See CSG, Page 3

ALEX HARRING & 
EMMA RUBERG
Daily News Editor & 
Daily Staff Reporter

The 
Towsley 
Foundation 
hosted a discussion at the 
Ford School of Public Policy 
on “Integrating and Enforcing 
Labor Rights in Trade” with 
Bama 
Athreya, 
a 
visiting 
policy expert at the Weiser 
Diplomacy Center, and Sander 
Levin, 
former 
congressman 
and 
professor 
of 
practice 
at the Public Policy School. 
John Ciorciari, director of the 
International 
Policy 
Center, 
moderated the event. 
The 
event, 
held 
on 
Wednesday afternoon, focused 
on examining the connection 
between labor rights and trade. 
About 
25 
people 
attended, 
including 
students, 
faculty 
and staff. Athreya started the 
discussion by addressing the 
importance of labor movements 
in trade justice.
“This 
concentrated 
power 
that corporations have with 
respect to governance and rules 
really cannot be broken without 
the counterweight of organized 
labor 
movements,” 
Athreya 
said. 

The 
Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization held a town hall on 
affordable housing and climate 
change in Rackham Graduate School 
to an auditorium full of students and 
GEO members Wednesday evening. 
Rackham student Emily Sheetz 
started the town hall with a quick 
history of GEO. She also highlighted 
the hardworking qualities of GEO’s 
bargaining team.
“We are currently bargaining 
twice a week,” Sheetz said. “The 
bargaining team is in the room for 
four hours at a time, so that’s eight 
hours a week, in the room with HR, 
on top of all of the extra work outside 
of that.” 
Sumeet Patwardhan, bargaining 
committee co-chair of GEO, told 
the Daily that many of their larger 
efforts have been dismissed despite 
their right to bargain.
“They labeled many of the 
proposals, but not all of them 
as 
permissive 
issues,” 
Patwardhan 
said. 
“Which 
means that they deemed these 
issues outside of the contract 
and so because of that, they 
think they don’t have to 
bargain over them.”

CALLIE TEITELBAUM
Daily Staff Reporter

ALYSSA MCMURTRY
Daily Staff Reporter

6:30 p.m. Wednesday night, 
University 
of 
Michigan 
Law 
students filed into Pizza House, a 
restaurant chain, for an exclusive 
recruiting event for Paul, Weiss, 
Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison 
LLP.
6:51 p.m. A larger group of 
about 15 students walked in 
together, put on name tags and 
were pointed towards a coat 
check.

6:54 p.m. Another group of ten 
students walked in. Handshakes 
commenced 
and 
mingling 
continued.
6:59 p.m. A student within the 
group yelled, “Mic Check.” About 
45 students formed into a circle 
surrounding the sponsored pizza 
and salad in which protesters 
revealed a large sign reading 
“#DropExxon.” 
The protest is part of a 
national campaign to boycott the 
law firm’s recruitment efforts. 
The protest followed in the 

footsteps of Harvard University, 
Yale University and New York 
University law students who hope 
their efforts will pressure Paul, 
Weiss, a renowned international 
law firm, to drop the multinational 
oil 
and 
gas 
corporation, 
ExxonMobil, as one of their 
clients. Paul, Weiss is defending 
ExxonMobil in multiple lawsuits 
around the country that demand 
ExxonMobil be held accountable 
for their detrimental impacts 
on climate change and alleged 
security fraud.

Approximately 
45 
of 
the 
total 60 students present at the 
recruiting event participated in 
the protest. 
The disruption occurred for 
seven minutes and all protesters 
immediately left following the 
protest, leaving approximately 10 
students with the recruiters. 
Protesters at Pizza House 
chanted in unison, “We the 
students of Michigan Law School 
will not work for you, as long 
as you work for ExxonMobil. 

Law students demonstrate against 
ExxonMobil at recruitment event

DESIGN BY LAUREN KUZEE

See STEM, Page 3

See GEO, Page 3

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

