Over the course of the last few
months, The Daily summer staff
collaborated to produce a spe-
cial edition on systemic racism,
titled “Miseducation.” Articles
from all sections — including
Michigan in Color, Opinion,
The Statement, Sports, News,
Arts and Photo — were curated
and arranged into different cat-
egories with the ultimate goal
to educate our community and
report on the fight for racial jus-
tice in our country and across
the world. Articles chosen to
best represent the special edi-
tion are centralized here on a
Magnify website.
Our mission statement: As
students at the University of
Michigan, we recognize that
our newsroom, and the Univer-
sity, is a majority white, cis, able-
bodied institution. We have
taken this summer to create a
collection of educational mate-
rials which dissect systemic
tendencies and cultural norms
which work in tandem to create
racial inequality in America. We
have sought to use writing, com-
ics, graphics and video footage
to discuss issues of education,
policing, consumerism, slack-
tivism, proper allyship, protests,
abolition and privilege. This
collection serves as a reminder
to the student body, the Univer-
sity administration, the Washt-
enaw County community and
the nation that this is a diseased
system which we must invest in
uprooting religiously. We hope
“Miseducation” raises aware-
ness and encourages readers to
educate themselves, their peers,
their family, colleagues and
friends in regards to systemic
oppression and injustice of
Black and Brown individuals in
the country. We also hope this
challenges The Michigan Daily
staff as a journalistic body to be
more representative and inten-
tional with all of their articles
and the information they extend
to the community. Hopefully
this project will ignite a passion
to uphold this responsibility.
Summer staff including Edi-
tor in Chief Emma Stein, Man-
aging Editor Devak Nanua,
Michigan in Color Managing
Editors Gabrijela Skoko and
Cheryn Hong and Editorial
Page Editor Brittany Bowman
played key roles in the produc-
tion and curation of “Misedu-
cation.” We also afford a great
“thank you” to The Daily’s web
team, for their hard work in cre-
ating the website.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan In Color
6 — Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Check out ‘Miseducation’
By Susan Gelfand
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/09/20
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/09/20
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020
ACROSS
1 “The Grapes of
Wrath” family
name
5 Pay attention to
9 Havana houses
14 Court legend
Arthur
15 On the ocean
16 Pixel pattern
17 *Feature of
Santa Claus’
beard
19 Kind of wave
20 Colorful birds
22 Woodworking
tool
23 Arouse
26 Enjoys now and
then, with “in”
28 __ hand
29 Skater’s surface
32 Auditioner’s aim
33 Santa __: dry
winds
34 Chess pieces
35 Peaks
38 Polite address
39 *Out-of-control
guy
41 Primitive dwelling
42 Bothers quite
a bit
44 Tiny ammo
45 Rocky Road
holder
46 Italian peak
47 Holiday veggie
48 Bridle strap
49 Many map lines
52 Genre for the
Village People
53 Lipstick
container
54 Custard-filled
pastries
58 Challenging
tests
60 Roughhousing,
or a hint to
both parts of
the answers to
starred clues
64 Permissible
65 Roused
66 Roof overhang
67 Signed
68 Church recess
69 Sometimes
seedy loaves
DOWN
1 Word with bone
or breaker
2 __Kosh B’gosh
3 Tuna type
4 Routes that
contain the
letters in
“routes”
5 Half a food fish
6 Golfer Aoki
7 Actor __ Patrick
Harris
8 Took a risk
9 Op. __: footnote
abbr.
10 Friendly
11 *Bobbysoxer’s
footwear
12 Staring intently
13 Monica of
tennis
18 Bard’s “before”
21 Cutting talk
23 Temporary
stage
24 Ancient Greek
region
25 *Football field
director
27 Partner of raised,
in bios
29 Copy
30 Cartoon frame
31 Finish no later
than
36 Long, loose top
37 Courtroom
staple, for short
39 Ebb
40 Corp. VP’s
degree
43 Metal marble
45 Lettuce keeper
49 Grey Goose rival
50 Shroud city
51 The “u” sound in
“census”
52 “__ Day”: 1993
rap hit
55 Circuit
56 Slow-moving
boats
57 “Now it’s clear”
59 Normal: Abbr.
61 Put down
62 Hail, to Hadrian
63 Cry of success
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
SUDOKU
WHISPER
“BLACK LIVES
MATTER”
“RESPECT THE
GRADS!!!
and the
grass”
ALEC COHEN/ DAILY
BRITTANY BOWMAN
Editorial Page Editor
We, the Black Student Union,
the United Asian American
Organizations Executive Board,
La Casa and the Arab Student
Association E-Board are call-
ing for an end to the Michigan
Ambassadors
program.
We
demand an intentional, genu-
ine inclusion of our organiza-
tions prior to future Student
Life decisions. BSU, UAAO, La
Casa and ASA believe the rea-
sons listed below justify an end
to the Michigan Ambassadors
program.
Student Life did not consult
BSU, UAAO, La Casa and ASA
in the creation and imple-
mentation of the Michigan
Ambassadors program.
While the University called
our organizations into meet-
ings to discuss policing poli-
cies on campus, they did not
genuinely give us the opportu-
nity to weigh in on decisions
that deeply impact the campus
community and disproportion-
ately affect Black and Brown
students. On July 1 and July 21,
2020, Central Student Govern-
ment invited BSU, UAAO, La
Casa and ASA to discuss polic-
ing on campus. CSG used public
health concerns to justify their
plans to increase police pres-
ence on campus and informed
our
organizations
of
their
flawed plan to protect students
of color. This culminated in the
creation of a voluntary address
directory where organizations
could submit their residential
addresses to Ann Arbor Police
Department. CSG claimed that
AAPD would forward com-
plaints of gatherings to the con-
tact point of those organizations
if there was a disturbance at an
affiliated address, and that con-
tact point would have 45 min-
utes to see the notification and
break up the party before the
police showed up. BSU, UAAO,
La Casa and ASA took issue
with CSG’s plan because it did
not genuinely protect the com-
munities we serve. After this
meeting, BSU, UAAO, La Casa
and ASA began to draft our own
proposals in order to prioritize
our communities’ safety. There
was no further communication
between CSG and our organiza-
tions.
However, before receiving
the opportunity to release our
own program, on Aug. 17, 2020,
Dean of Students Laura Blake
Jones presented the Wolverine
Culture of Care Ambassador
program to the Ann Arbor City
Council. Dean Jones gave the
Ann Arbor City Council three
days’ notice before the pro-
gram’s expected launch date.
On Aug. 20, the AAPD Twitter
account posted an announce-
ment
informing
both
their
followers and the Ann Arbor
community of the formation of
canvassing teams, omitting the
program’s formal name. Two
hours later, The Michigan Daily
published an article detail-
ing AAPD and Student Life’s
ambassador program. On Aug.
21, Student Life sent out a news-
letter that mentioned the launch
of the Michigan Ambassadors
program and the opt-in registry.
We were blindsided by the
University’s
announcement
of the Michigan Ambassadors
program before we were able
to contribute any of our knowl-
edge. Our organizations were
clearly not at the decision-mak-
ing tables that led to the Michi-
gan Ambassadors program, and
thus were not consulted mean-
ingfully.
Student Life did not pro-
vide the “Level 1” Michigan
Ambassadors with bias and/
or
Diversity,
Equity
and
Inclusion training.
The University did not dis-
close who, why or how it chose
its initial canvassers to enforce
COVID-19 guidelines. While
these canvassers may not har-
bor any prejudice, there cannot
be assurance due to the afore-
mentioned lack of communica-
tion and the available training
modules — which include public
health information related to
COVID-19, a basic orientation
to the Ambassador program,
conflict
resolution
and
de-
escalation skills and bystander
intervention skills. Given the
canvassing role of the Michigan
Ambassadors, it is inappropri-
ate that the Michigan Ambas-
sador training did not address
biases, especially with the harm
of policing disproportionately
marginalizing race, gender and
other identities. Without mod-
ules appropriately ensuring that
ambassadors have a solid under-
standing of racial bias, gender
bias and broader DEI topics,
Student Life puts students of
color in danger.
The
Michigan
Ambassa-
dors program works with Ann
Arbor Police Department and
Division of Public Safety and
Security officers.
Michigan Ambassadors pro-
gram canvassing teams rely on
AAPD and DPSS, which build
upon a historical and cur-
rent legacy of police harming
communities of color, despite
President
Schlissel’s
claims
that the Michigan Ambassa-
dors program utilizes peer-to-
peer accountability “to reduce
the need for law enforce-
ment.” Moreover, the Michigan
Ambassador program’s use of
Community Engagement Offi-
cers from DPSS further weap-
onizes existing power dynamics
to substantiate warnings from
its
canvassing
groups.
The
University cannot cultivate an
inclusive campus community
while perpetuating an antitheti-
cal dynamic that gives a select
group of students undue power
over their peers, allowing hate-
ful attitudes and feelings of
superiority to fester within can-
vassers.
The deaths of Breonna Taylor,
George Floyd, Tony McDade,
David
McAtee,
Rayshard
Brooks, Daniel Prude, Dijon
Kizzee, Deon Kay, the near-
fatal shooting of Jacob Blake
and countless others build on
this legacy of police distrust and
cannot be overlooked in pro-
moting public health and safety.
BSU, UAAO, La Casa and
ASA demand the Univer-
sity respond to these tan-
gible action items in order to
address the needs of students
of color.
If the University, AAPD and
DPSS are to create a system of
peer-to-peer
accountability
— as emphasized by President
Schlissel — then the Univer-
sity must hold itself to the same
standard of accountability. To
achieve institutional account-
ability, the Division of Student
Life, AAPD and DPSS must be
transparent and public about
who is responsible for the cre-
ation and implementation of the
ambassador program, how Stu-
dent Life recruited and selected
ambassadors, the relationship
between the Michigan Ambas-
sadors program and AAPD and
which University offices are the
ambassadors’ point of contact.
Additionally, if the Universi-
ty, AAPD and DPSS are to create
a system that’s dedicated to, as
Student Life puts it, “facilitating
student learning and the devel-
opment of the whole student
while cultivating a diverse and
inclusive campus community,”
then Student Life must forefront
the voices of students of color to
have jurisdiction over-policing
on campus. U-M Student Life
must commit to intentional,
genuine inclusion of our orga-
nizations prior to any deci-
sion regarding campus safety
and communication regarding
policing on campus.
Fellow students and Univer-
sity constituents, there are tan-
gible action items that you can
complete to join us in calling for
an end to the Michigan Ambas-
sadors program. Anyone may
sign this statement, as an indi-
vidual or organization, in sup-
port of our message through this
Signature Form (https://tinyurl.
com/y3qrr7e8).
Furthermore,
we created a Michigan Ambas-
sadors Program Concerns Form
(https://tinyurl.com/y4gny6r3),
open to all submissions, to help
us build our case in calling for
an end to the Michigan Ambas-
sadors program.
Op-Ed: A call to end the
Michigan Ambassadors program
The authors of this article are members of University of Michi-
gan organizations including The Black Student Union, United Asian
American Organizations Executive Board, La Casa and the Arab Stu-
dent Association E-Board. They can be reached at bsueboard20-21@
umich.edu, uaao.board20-21@umich.edu, lacasa.board@umich.edu
and arabseboard@umich.edu, respectively.