GEO President Emily Gauld, a 
Rackham student, spoke to The 
Daily before the grade-in and 
described GEO’s disappointment 
with the University’s rejection of 
proposals for promoting equitable 
and accessible working conditions.
“We spent many hours answering 
questions about the language and 
trying to start problem-solving,” 
Gauld said. “They were really 
trying to understand the root of 
the problem we were getting at, 
we were trying to articulate that as 
clearly as possible. We were hoping 
their counters would provide us 
with some sense of how they saw 
we could address the problem or 
where they could meet us in the 
middle. And to get rejections on 
everything felt like all of those 
conversations 
were 
essentially 
wasted.”
In an interview with The Daily 
in Dec. 2019, University President 
Mark Schlissel said he values 
unions and believes in negotiating 
to find reasonable solutions all 
parties are satisfied with. 
“What 
unions 
do 
with 
employers 
is 
they 
negotiate,” 
Schlissel said. “So demands aren’t 
negotiation — they say ’you must 
do this.’ The idea is to spend time 
understanding each others’ goals 
and figuring out which ones are 
the most important, since no one 
ever gets everything they want in a 
negotiation, and then you sit down 
and work. And it’s hard work. And 
they’ll meet a couple of times a 
week for many months trying to 
figure out what’s a win-win. There 
are some things GEO is going to 
want that they just aren’t going to 
get. There are other things they 
want that are reasonable and they 
will get them.” 

In 2017, the University and GEO 
reached a contract agreement 
addressing pay caps on mental 
health 
services, 
formation 
of 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
Graduate 
Student 
Student 
Assistant positions and greater 
protections 
for 
international 
graduate students. This contract 
was the result of 27 bargaining 
sessions, 
multiple 
sit-ins 
and 
threats of a walk-out.
Gauld said the purpose of the 
grade-in was both a response to 
HR’s proposal rejections and its 
impact on the future of graduate 
student workers.
“We 
see 
it 
really 
as 
an 
opportunity to make the labor 
that graduate students do visible,” 
Gauld said. “We’ve been asked 
more than once at the table what 
does the University get in return 
for the asks that we’re making, 
which is a bit of a trick question 
because they’re already getting 
our labor. So we want to make sure 
that it’s clear what exactly that 
labor is, how much we put into this 
University, and that our asks do not 
outweigh the work that we do.”
Rackham 
student 
Sumeet 
Patwardhan, co-chair of the GEO 
Bargaining Committee, attended 
the grade-in and spoke to The 
Daily about how GEO’s purpose 
and values impacted him.
“When I first became a graduate 
student here, I didn’t even know 
what a union was, that’s where I 
was sort of coming from into this 
process,” Patwardhan said. “I just 
felt it was very empowering to 
know that I wouldn’t have to fight 
for my rights and protections as 
a graduate student worker all by 
myself but that there is this union 
that would be collectively fighting 
for us.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, February 21, 2020 — 3

REGENTS
From Page 1

CLUB
From Page 1
GRADE-IN
From Page 1

ASL 
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

“Due to this increase, 
fewer than 12 students from 
the waitlist (who have not 
studied 
ASL 
previously) 
are able to begin the ASL 
sequence each year with 
the first-semester language 
course.”
The ASL program was 
established 
in 
1999 
in 
response to a student-led 
initiative 
to 
bring 
ASL 
courses to the University. 
Though the program was 
originally housed in the 
Department of Linguistics, 
it moved to the Residential 
College with the reopening 
of East Quad Residence Hall 
in 2013. While the RC houses 
ASL, ASL is not part of the 
RC language program.
The fourth semester of 
RCASL satisfies the LSA 
language 
requirement, 
but not the RC language 
requirement. 
Still, 
RC 
Director Catherine Badgley 
said the RC is looking into 
updated plans for all of their 
courses, including ASL, to 
adjust resource allocation 
and waitlists. 
“The 
ASL 
Program 
became 
part 
of 
the 
Residential College in 2013, 

and enrollments in ASL 
courses have been robust 
since then,” Badgley said. 
“In the RC, we are in the 
process of reviewing long-
term plans for all of our 
academic programs in light 
of enrollment trends, faculty 
availability, and resources.” 
According to the Modern 
Language 
Association’s 
most recent report on United 
States 
higher 
education 
enrollments in languages 
other than English, ASL 
is the third most studied 
language following Spanish 
and French. Berwanger said 
the limited number of ASL 
professors is a nationwide 
issue 
and 
Shipley 
noted 
ASL differs from most other 
languages taught because of 
its high student demand and 
low supply of professors and 
courses. Even compared to 
other less frequently taken 
languages, 
Shipley 
said, 
ASL has a long waitlist. 
“There’s obviously some 
languages that most people 
take 
that 
have 
endless 
sections and that don’t have 
waitlists 
because 
there 
are endless sections and 
endless professors,” Shipley 
said. 
“Then 
there 
are 
other languages that have 
the same issue where the 
programs are really small, 
but ASL differs because of 

that waitlist. There’s just a 
higher demand for it.”
Badgley said the waitlist 
signifies growing interest 
from 
students 
in 
both 
ASL 
and 
supporting 
marginalized communities. 
She also praised the student-
led aspect of the petition. 
“We are aware of the 
strong 
interest 
from 
students in having more 
courses in ASL and applaud 
the activism behind this 
petition,” Badgley wrote. 
Dentistry 
student 
Joseph Samona wrote in 
an email to The Daily his 
experience as a deaf student 
at the University has been 
positive 
with 
regards 
to 
accommodation 
and 
interpreters. 
“My 
experience 
at 
U 
of 
M 
has 
been 
great,” 
Samona wrote. “I was born 
profoundly deaf and I grew 
up 
with 
American 
Sign 
Language. At U of M, I have 
been using ASL interpreters 
for 
my 
education 
and 
having 
these 
kinds 
of 
accommodations play a big 
role in my education.” 
While Samona has not 
taken ASL courses at the 
University, he said other 
students 
he 
knows 
who 
have taken it have enjoyed 
delving 
deeper 
into 
the 
language and culture. 

“I have not taken any 
courses but I know few 
students that did,” he wrote. 
“They love learning ASL 
because it is a unique and 
creative language. They also 
got a chance to be involved 
with the Deaf community 
where they can experience 
the Deaf culture.” 
Samona said he supports 
the petition and believes it 
will positively impact all 
students at the University. 
“I 
think 
the 
need 
to 
expand the ASL program is 
important for the University 
of 
Michigan,” 
Samona 
wrote. “There are many 
students that have shown 
strong interest in ASL and 
this will be a wonderful 
opportunity for them to 
learn ASL and the Deaf 
culture.”
LSA junior Zachary Layle 
is president of the ASL Club, 
an 
organization 
bringing 
together hearing, deaf and 
hard 
of 
hearing 
people 
from the University and 
the Ann Arbor community 
to learn and practice ASL. 
Layle agreed that RCASL 
100’s long waitlist, along 
with the course sequence 
having only one hearing 
professor, limits learning 
opportunities for interested 
students.
While 
he 
considered 

taking the University’s ASL 
courses, 
Layle 
ultimately 
decided to learn through 
the club, which he said is a 
decision he is happy with. 
“I’ve learned an immense 
amount just from going to 
meetings and just practicing 
when I can,” he said. “I 
mean I’ll walk down the 
street and see a chair and 
I’ll fingerspell for ‘chair,’ so 
just little things like that. 
And I’ve grown immensely 
from where I started.” 
Layle is also supportive 
of the petition and has 
circulated it through the 
club in hopes of getting more 
professors and resources for 
ASL. 
“I think it’s awesome,” 
Layle said. “I’ve sent it out 
to any other groups I’m 
involved in and I said, ‘Hey, 
please just sign this. This 
is very important.’ Because 
it desperately needs to be 
expanded and even one more 
teacher would immensely 
improve the program at the 
University.” 
While 
Shipley’s 
main 
goal with the petition is to 
shorten RCASL 100’s long 
waitlist, she also wants the 
University to allocate more 
resources to the program. 
She hopes to eventually see 
a minor in ASL through the 
program. 

“The biggest concern is 
eliminating that waitlist,” 
Shipley said. “But with that 
comes a huge bottleneck 
effect, like if you get all 
these 
students 
off 
that 
Intro 100 or 101 waitlist, 
then what are you going to 
do when you get to 102? So 
ideally we’d like to add more 
sections of each course, 
really each level of ASL. The 
end goal would be an ASL 
minor, which doesn’t exist 
right now.” 
Layle 
believes 
the 
University can improve both 
the resources and attention 
it gives to ASL and the ASL 
program. Layle stressed the 
importance of treating ASL 
as its own language and 
allocating 
the 
necessary 
resources to it 
“I think a lot of hearing 
people see ASL and deaf 
culture 
as 
not 
its 
own 
language,” Layle said. “They 
don’t put it on the same 
level as they do say Spanish 
or Russian or French. It’s 
got its own culture, it has 
its own slang, it has its 
own grammar. It’s its own 
language and it deserves to 
be treated like every other 
language.” 
Reporter Sonia Lee can be 
reached at sonialee@umich.
edu.
 

“Annually, club sports 
administrators, so myself, 
our 
coordinator, 
my 
supervisor and our financial 
specialist 
look 
at 
our 
capacity to serve the clubs 
that we already have,” Hanna 
said. “And then if we have 
something that’s changed and 
maybe if we have the ability 
to add more organizations, 
which happened last year, 
then we open the application 
process.”
According 
to 
the 
Club 
Sports Handbook, available 
by request at the Recreational 
Sports 
Office, 
there 
are 
multiple requirements that 
teams must meet to apply for 
club status. These include 
being recognized as a student 
organization 
for 
at 
least 
two 
years, 
demonstrating 
fiscal responsibility during 
this time, having at least 
ten 
competitive 
members 
and showing evidence of 
a 
leadership 
transition 
beyond its original founders. 
Potential club sports teams 
must 
also 
have 
a 
non-
student coach and a national 
governing 
body 
for 
their 
sport, which allows them 
to compete against other 
universities. 
The process of reviewing 
the application is then taken 
up by the executive board, 
which is a body of students 
who have been elected by 
the Club Sports Council. 
Hanna said applicants must 
meet with the e-board to 
answer 
questions 
about 
their interest in club status. 
The 
e-board 
then 
makes 

recommendations on if the 
applicant group should be 
granted club status.
“From 
those 
recommendations, 
the 
administrative staff reviews 
them,” Hanna said. “We look 
at our situation as far as what 
our capacity is and where 
our capacity is, whether it’s 
facility space or advising 
time or financial resources. 
Then we look at what the 
need is from the clubs that 
have applied.”
In 2019, the competitive 
weightlifting 
team 
successfully petitioned for 
club status. The team has won 
multiple titles in different 
weight classes at the regional 
and national levels. 
LSA senior Celia Gold, 
co-president of weightlifting 
club, 
said 
club 
status 
achievement was an intensive 
process from the student 
perspective.
“The process to become a 
club sport is very rigorous. 
It includes many components 
that 
must 
be 
signed 
off 
on 
by 
staff,” 
Gold 
said. 
“Additionally, the club must 
prove they will be successful 
and fund themselves in order 
to get off the ground.”
Gold explained how her 
experience 
as 
an 
athlete 
changed as a result of the 
team’s new status.
“Beyond 
being 
able 
to 
utilize the block ‘M’, we 
now have access to club 
sports resources and a whole 
network of teams who have 
succeeded before us,” Gold 
said.
According 
to 
the 
recreational 
sports 
handbook, one of the ways 
club sports provide an inter-

sport network is through 
representation in the Club 
Sports 
Council, 
a 
body 
of 
representatives 
from 
each of the 30 club sports 
at Michigan. The Council 
provides 
the 
opportunity 
for 
teams 
to 
collaborate 
and learn from each other, 
promoting 
camaraderie 
across the University sports 
community. 
The student swim team, 
Swimming 
Wolverines 
At 
Michigan , is an example 
of 
a 
student 
athletic 
organization on campus that 
has faced issues achieving 
club 
status. 
Engineering 
sophomore William Soobert, 
administrative 
chair 
of 
SWAM, explained why a club 
swim team is important to 
non-varsity 
swimmers 
on 
campus.
“A few years ago, Andrew 
Westfall (created) Michigan 
club swimming, SWAM, for 
people like us who want to 
continue to swim in college 
but aren’t necessarily able 
to swim on the DI team at 
Michigan,” said Soobert. “We 
have turned it into more than 
just a swim team. We have 
turned it into a community, 
a family, we have all sorts of 
social events and all sorts of 
meets throughout the year.”
Soobert said the team, 
despite not being officially 
affiliated 
with 
the 
University, has competitively 
represented the University 
successfully this past year.
“We compete on a national 
level every year. Last year 
we placed top 30 out of 
over 
a 
hundred 
teams,” 
Soobert said. “We are pretty 
competitive even though we 
have only been around for 

five years.”
Engineering 
junior 
Robbie Amori, co-president 
of SWAM, explained why 
SWAM 
is 
pursuing 
club 
status so persistently.
“We want to be able to 

represent the University to 
our fullest potential,” Amori 
said. 
“We 
are 
currently 
representing them at the 
national level. We would 
like to do it in a more official 
capacity by wearing the block 
‘M’. It would also be great to 
have other side-benefits, like 
using the natatorium and to 
host meets for club funds.” 
Amori said SWAM has 
been told they are unable to 
achieve club status due to 
their lack of resources.
“I think one of the things 
that they say is that they 
can only support so many 
programs at a time,” Amori 
said. “Which is one reason 
why they won’t let us become 
sports 
status 
because 
they 
don’t 
have 
enough 
‘resources,’ is the word they 
say.” 
Hanna 
explained 
why 
some organizations are not 
offered club status by the 
Club Sports Program.
“Typically 
the 
reason 
that clubs are not offered 
sponsorships when they have 
applied is because there are 
(other) clubs that have a need 
that best matches what we 
have available at that time,” 
Hanna said. “So it’s not that 
they’re being denied, it’s that 
they are not being offered.”
 
Reporter Sofia Urban can 
be 
reached 
at 
urbanso@
umich.edu and sports writer 
Rose Cramton can be reached 
at rcramton@umich.edu

Schlissel addressed the actions 
the 
University 
had 
previously 
taken in response to allegations of 
sexual misconduct against the late 
Robert Anderson, former director 
of University Health Services and 
an athletics team physician. In 
2003, Anderson retired from the 
University.
“The 
patient-physician 
relationship involves a solemn 
commitment and trust,” Schlissel 
said. “The allegations are highly 
disturbing. 
On 
behalf 
of 
the 
University, I apologize to anyone 
who was harmed by Dr. Anderson 
… To those who reported Dr. 
Anderson and to anyone who has 
reported sexual misconduct in any 
case, I express my sincere gratitude 
for your courage.”
Schlissel also commented on the 
recent investigation into Martin A. 
Philbert, the University’s provost 
and executive vice president for 
academic affairs, who was accused 
of multiple allegations of sexual 
misconduct. Schlissel said the 
University has hired an outside 
independent law firm to investigate 
the situation and therefore, he will 

not publicize the specifics of the 
case.
“Because this investigation is so 
critical and because we must ensure 
that the outside independent firm is 
able to conduct their investigation 
in a thorough, reliable and fair way, 
I will not be able to share any details 
while the investigation is underway, 
even though I know that there’s 
wide interest in the case,” Schlissel 
said.
Public Policy junior Ben Gerstein, 
Central 
Student 
Government 
president, 
also 
spoke 
at 
the 
meeting. His address began with a 
statement reaffirming his apology 
for comments he made in 2017 on 
the 
Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. 
Multicultural 
organizations 
on 
campus called for public apologies 
from Gerstein and CSG Tuesday 
night, as well as anti-Islamophobia 
and anti-bias training for CSG 
members. 
“I want to reaffirm that apology 
and just reference my commitment 
and CSG’s collective commitment 
towards ensuring this campus is 
inclusive for our Palestinian, Arab 
and Muslim students,” Gerstein 
said. “We look forward to getting 
to work in the last four weeks of my 
administration to take action and 
show solidarity with students who 

felt impacted by my past words.” 
Gerstein continued by addressing 
a survey CSG released to the 
campus community at the end of 
December about mental health and 
well-being on campus. According to 
Gerstein, of the 2166 respondents, 55 
percent noted that Counseling and 
Psychological Services appointment 
wait times were a significant barrier 
toward seeking treatment. He also 
described the issue of a lack of well-
being resources for students on 
North Campus.
“I think it’s important that we 
recognize the incredibly difficult 
work of being a CAPS counselor, so 
I want to thank them for the work 
that they do when our students 
are able to see them,” Gerstein 
said. “But because of the extreme 
costs of off campus care, CAPS 
exists as really the only option for 
many students on campus who are 
seeking counseling, and so I think 
it’s important that we reaffirm our 
commitment to those resources and 
ensure that students aren’t waiting 
to seek help.”
The Regents announced the 
creation of a new, permanent 
committee chaired by University 
Regent Michael Behm (D) called 
The University of Michigan-Flint 
and the University of Michigan-

Dearborn 
Committee. 
The 
committee will receive reports and 
data on the finances, enrollment, 
student success, diversity and other 
factors regarding the Flint and 
Dearborn campuses. It will also 
report regularly to the board and 
meet with both campus chancellors.
“After 
holding 
town 
halls 
and each of us (The Regents) 
having meetings with different 
stakeholders of the two campuses, 
we feel it’s important to establish 
this standing committee,” Behm 
said. 
The board approved several 
construction projects to update 
facilities and infrastructure on 
campus. One approved resolution 
is a $145 million addition to the 
Bob and Betty Beyster Building to 
expand facilities for the computer 
science program and provide a 
new location for the School of 
Information. 
Other 
approved 
resolutions include a $4.8-million 
renovation 
of 
Hutchins’ 
Hall 
Auditorium 100, and a $39-million 
design for the proposed Dean 
Road Transportation Facility to 
provide the infrastructure for bus 
transportation equipment.
Bernstein 
commented 
on 
the resolutions to expand the 
Bob and Betty Beyster Building 

and construct the Dean Road 
Transportation 
Facility, 
saying 
that future capital projects should 
line up with the University’s goal 
of achieving carbon neutrality by 
2030. 
“For every major capital project, 
I’d like to see U-M’s architecture, 
engineering and construction team 
… provide a total life cycle analysis 
for a net-zero building,” Bernstein 
said. “What it will demonstrate 
is while the cost of a net-neutral 
building is probably larger up front, 
the longer-term cost of that building 
… is competitive or very likely 
cheaper.”
In a statement released shortly 
after the meeting, the Climate 
Action Movement praised the 
decision to freeze future fossil fuel 
investments while reiterating their 
demand for full divestment from 
fossil fuel companies.
“While this is a major victory 
for the fossil fuel divestment 
movement, it is only the first step,” 
the statement reads. “It is not enough 
to refrain from making additional 
divestments—the University must 
commit to divest the $1 billion it 
currently has invested in the fossil 
fuel industry.” 
 At the conclusion of the Board 
of Regents meeting, 15 public 

commenters had the opportunity 
to directly address University of 
Michigan administrators. Eleven 
of the comments touched upon 
issues of University climate policy. 
The remainder spoke about a lack 
of affordable housing, support 
for international students and 
equity across all three U-M 
campuses. 
Rackham 
student 
Akash 
Shah, co-director of Climate 
Blue, read from the letter 
the organization sent to the 
board and Schlissel last week 
reflecting 
on 
experiences 
from the 25th United Nations’ 
meeting of the Conference of 
Parties 
and 
recommending 
carbon neutrality by 2030. 
Shah called for the University 
to recognize the global impact 
it has on climate change. 
“As a citizen of Kenya 
and India, I can personally 
attest to the disproportionate 
effect of climate change on 
the global south, and U-M 
needs to reiterate its global 
commitment 
through 
local 
action,” Shah said.

Read more at 
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