Around 50 students gathered
on the Diag the afternoon of Nov.
19, with some walking out of their
classes, to demand the University
of Michigan expand its policies
for climate change mitigation and
sexual misconduct prevention and
take responsibility for its actions.
The
strike
was
organized
by
Fridays
for
Future,
an
environmental organization that
leads climate strikes around the
world, as well as Roe v. Rape, a
campus
nonprofit
organization
supporting
sexual
misconduct
prevention and survivor advocacy
efforts.
Fridays
for
Future
previously organized a climate
strike on Oct. 22.
The
event
was
a
distinct
collaboration between the two
separate causes organized around
calling for broader transparency and
accountability from the University’s
administration. Over the past few
years, climate activists and sexual
assault prevention advocates have
pushed the University to commit
to limiting its carbon emissions and
reforming how it handles cases of
sexual misconduct committed by
faculty and administrators.
Some students walked out of
classes to support the event. LSA
Junior Jesse Bishop, member of
the advocacy group Students for
Clean Energy, left his class to
attend the strike. Bishop said he
came out for the strike to hold
the University accountable for its
handling of climate change and
sexual misconduct policies, which
he believes are inadequate.
“It’s not enough at all, it’s not
even near enough,” Bishop said.
It’s (the University’s) responsibility
to protect their students from the
climate and sexual assaults…it’s not
a business and they’re treating it
like a business.”
Jon Vaughn, a survivor of
Robert
Anderson
and
former
University football player who has
been protesting outside University
President Mark Schlissel’s home on
South University Avenue, was set to
speak at the strike, but organizers
said a last-minute change meant
Vaughn was unable to attend the
event. Vaughn recently announced
that he plans to run for a seat on the
Board of Regents in 2022
LSA sophomore Jacob Sendra,
an organizer with Fridays for
Future, criticized the University for
taking insufficient action to address
the climate crisis.
“When it comes to climate policy,
the University of Michigan drapes
itself with the language and imagery
of decisive action … while actively
profiting from the destruction of
our futures,” Sendra said. “It’s time
to demand accountability.”
Sendra highlighted the group’s
demands for the University to
follow the City of Ann Arbor’s
A2Zero initiative to achieve carbon
neutrality by 2030 and to divest its
endowed funds from natural gas
investments.
In May, University President
Mark Schlissel and the Board of
Regents committed the University
to achieving full carbon neutrality by
2040 across all scopes of emissions.
The commitment followed after
significant student and community
activism, but activists point to data
from the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change and argue the
University’s plan does not limit
emissions fast enough to prevent
the worst effects of climate change.
In
March,
the
University
also
committed
to
disinvest
the endowment from fossil fuel
investments and have a net-
zero-emissions
endowment
by
2050. Activists have urged the
administration
to
go
further
and also divest from natural gas
companies.
LSA sophomore Lexi Crilley said
she appreciated the University’s
revised endowment policies but said
the University had an obligation to
go further.
“We are grateful that the
University of Michigan has agreed
to divest from coal and oil, but what
about natural gas?” Crilley said.
“And again, 2050 is way too far
away. We need to emphasize that
it’s not enough action.”
Multiple
survivor
advocates
then began to speak, reproaching
the University for how they’ve
handled allegations of misconduct
against administrators and faculty
and encouraged the administration
to better protect students.
Public Policy senior Emma
Sandberg, executive director of
Roe v. Rape, has been advocating
for survivors of sexual assault
since her freshman year. Sandberg
criticized the University for a lack
of support for survivors and for not
doing enough to punish those who
commit misconduct.
“We are not the Leaders and
Best if our policies are designed
to deter students from reporting
and let perpetrators off the hook,”
Sandberg said. “Whether you’ve
been working on this from the
beginning or whether you are just
hearing about these issues today,
it is up to everyone listening, not
just survivors and allies, to keep
fighting until all of our demands
are met.”
Advocates pointed out multiple
prominent
University
officials
who committed misconduct while
serving at the University, including
former Provost Martin Philbert and
former University Health Service
director and team doctor Robert
Anderson. They also highlighted
the recent instance at the Ford
School of Public Policy, in which
students protested the decision
to admit a master’s student who
was guilty of Title IX violations at
their previous school.
Among
the
advocates’
list
of demands was a rule that the
University would not admit anyone
who previously committed sexual
misconduct, as well as provide
expanded support and outreach
resources for survivors of assault.
In
July,
the
University
restructured
the
Office
of
Institutional Equity into the Equity,
Civil Rights and Title IX Office
to enhance its handling of sexual
misconduct and provide support for
those who file complaints through
the office. The announcement
came with multiple reforms meant
to address the culture around
reporting
and
prevent
future
instances of misconduct.
In an interview with The Daily,
Sandberg recognized the actions
the University had taken but
said activists needed to push the
administration to go further in
supporting survivors.
“Currently,
survivors
lack
so many resources on campus,”
Sandberg said. “We want to see
new centers (for support) created,
and that’s something that without
further action, I don’t see the
University choosing to do that
themselves.”
The University’s Office of Public
Affairs did not respond to requests
for comment at the time of this
article’s publication.
After multiple environmental
activists and survivor advocates
spoke, organizers led the crowd off
the Diag, southbound on State St.
and eastbound on South University
Ave..
The
protesters
chanted
phrases demanding action from
the University, including “Support
survivors, Schlissel must go” and
“Climate change is a war of the rich
against the poor.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, December 1, 2021
CAMPUS LIFE
Students walk out for climate,
sexual misconduct accountability
Event called for broader transparency, action from ‘U’ administration
With COVID-19 cases on the rise
and flu season in full effect, sickness
has recently become the norm on
campus. In yet another semester
defined by the pandemic, students
told The Michigan Daily they find
themselves asking instructors for
accommodations more than ever
before.
LSA freshman Allen Shen, who
lives in a residence hall, said he
noticed many students feeling burnt
out or sick over the past few weeks.
“Everyone around me has been
sick here and there — my friend got
the flu last week, but he was perfectly
fine,” Shen said. “Other people have
been really, really sick, especially in
the dorms.”
Shen said he was no exception to
this campus-wide trend, as he fell
sick with pneumonia early on in the
semester and experienced symptoms
that lingered through September.
“Since two or three days after I
moved in, I started getting a sore
throat and then got progressively
worse over time,” Shen said. “I was
probably sick for a good month, but
not deathly sick.”
During midterm season, Shen
said he realized his workload was
becoming too much to handle on
top of managing his pneumonia
symptoms. With three exams in
a single week, Shen said he felt
especially burnt out. He explained
his situation to his MATH 215
instructor
Mattias
Jonsson,
professor of mathematics, who then
let him opt out of his midterm.
“(My
professor)
was
really
understanding and just asked for a
doctor’s note,” Shen said. “He said I
could skip the first midterm, and the
next two would be weighted heavier
to accommodate me missing the first
one.”
In an email to The Daily,
Jonsson reiterated the course’s
accommodation
policy,
citing
alternative ways to make up for
missed exams.
“In MATH 215, there are two
midterm exams and a final exam,
along with a good deal of homework,”
Jonsson said. “For students who miss
one of the midterm exams for illness,
the general policy has been not to
count that midterm and instead
reweight the other midterm and
final exam.”
Accommodations
generally
depend on department or course
policies. Some instructors have
incorporated different ways for
students to make up or drop
assignments when they feel sick.
After testing positive for COVID-19
during midterm season, Engineering
junior Izzy Ferranti said one of her
instructors offered a virtual option
to take her typically in-person quiz.
“I
received
an
exam
accommodation for CHEM 342,
which was held online the same day
as the regularly scheduled quiz,”
Ferranti said. “I thought having it the
same day was difficult because it was
shortly after I developed symptoms,
so I still wasn’t feeling well.”
Ferranti said her CHEM 342
professor was willing to push her
quiz back several days to allow for a
recovery period.
“I was able to take (my quiz) on
campus when I was released from
quarantine, about four days after the
regularly scheduled quiz,” Ferranti
said. “This was helpful because I was
able to ask questions in person, and
I didn’t have the stress of taking it
online.”
While
Ferranti
said
the
accommodations
she
received
helped alleviate some stress, LSA
senior Aratrika Ganguli said she
wished the Economics Department
had taken a similar approach. After
testing
positive
for
COVID-19
several days before her ECON 431
midterm, Ganguli said she emailed
her professor asking to take the exam
virtually or at a later date only to find
that there was no alternative to the
in-person exam, as per department
policy.
“When (my professor and I) were
conversing through email, she let me
know that there are just no options
for those who are sick,” Ganguli said.
“We would just make you not take
this exam, which would mean that
my final exam is worth 60% of my
entire grade.”
Ganguli said this accommodation
only
exacerbated
her
stress,
especially when thinking about
how much more she would need to
prepare for her future exam.
“Now, I feel like any free time I
have, I need to be studying for my
final because I know that whatever
grade I get on that final is literally
my grade for the class,” Ganguli said.
“That’s very stressful for a student
who did not even expect to get sick.”
The Economics Department did
not respond to The Daily when asked
to comment on its accommodation
policy.
Despite her frustration with the
Economics
Department’s
policy,
Ganguli said all of her professors
were understanding of her situation
and reminded her to focus on her
mental and physical health during
quarantine.
“I was very happy to see my
professors’ reactions … they all told
me to prioritize my health and stop
worrying about everything else,”
Ganguli said. “But the only thing
that’s going through my head as a
senior is my grade and what’s going
to happen if I can’t attend this class.”
While
attending
classes
asynchronously prevented her from
falling far behind on coursework,
Ganguli said she spent most of her
free time in quarantine catching up
on lecture content instead of fully
recovering.
“Because I had a lot of time during
quarantine, I felt as though I was just
doing homework the entire time,”
Ganguli said. “There wasn’t a lot of
free time to walk around, breathe
and take care of my own health.”
When Ferranti began attending
in-person classes again, she said
she felt mostly caught up with
classwork because she could attend
lectures asynchronously during her
quarantine period.
“When
I
returned
to
the
classroom, I did not feel like I
fell behind on coursework due to
asynchronous lectures,” Ferranti
said. “The only setback I experienced
was
missing
my
CHEM
342
discussion, which is helpful for
solving homework problems.”
The amount of time Ganguli
dedicated to her courses during
quarantine and the additional stress
of heavily-weighted exams are both
indicative of some of the struggles
students continue to face this
semester.
“It was definitely tough to balance
taking care of your own health and
making sure you’re on top of things,”
Ganguli said. “So, it really sucks to see
that you’re at a disadvantage in terms
of your education because of the fact
that you unexpectedly got sick.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Evan
Delorenzo
can
be
reached
at
evandelo@umich.edu.
Undergrad students receive varying
accommodations due to COVID-19, flu
EVAN DELORENZO
Daily Staff Reporter
Some professors more willing to change exam, homework
policies than others, resulting in stress on top of illness
ACADEMICS
ARJUN THAKKAR
Daily News Reporter
UMich child care workers
allege unfair compensation
ADMINISTRATION
Employees say low salary doesn’t reflect job’s demands amid pandemic
The educators at the University
of
Michigan
Children’s
Centers
are responsible for teaching and
socializing the youngest victors on
campus. After more than a year of
working as critical employees during
a pandemic, U-M child care center
teachers are now demanding higher
salaries, saying their wages do not
reflect the demands of their job.
The problem
The average salary of a teacher at
the U-M centers is $38,588, far below
the base salary of an Ann Arbor Public
Schools teacher at $43,906✎ EditSign.
The Daily spoke to two teachers
from the U-M child care centers,
both of whom wished to remain
anonymous for fear of professional
retaliation. For the purposes of this
article, they will be referred to as
Source 1 and Source 2.
Source 1 has a bachelor’s degree
in early education and works in the
early preschool department. They
said their main frustration with the
situation is their compensation not
being reflective of their role as an
educator.
“We’re working on a 12-month
schedule,
and
we’re
being
compensated for less than what
nine-month teachers are putting
out,” Source 1 said. “With the same
qualifications and the same level of
education and the same interactions
with young people and children.”
Source 1 said as a research
university, the University should
be better able to recognize the
importance of their work, which has
been proven to have lasting, positive
impacts on a child’s development.
“We’re building the foundation for
the educational future of our tiniest
victors here at the University,” Source
1 said. “And they don’t want to pay
the teachers, who are on the front
lines with their children, a living
wage.” Source 2, a lead teacher who
supervises the U-M child care center
workers, highlighted another issue:
retention. The lack of compensation
does not encourage new teachers to
be interested in the program in a time
when new teachers are desperately
needed, they said.
“I think if I was being paid more
and I could’ve paid for child care for
my children, it would’ve been a better
situation for my children and me
because teaching my children was not
a good experience,” Source 2 said.
Jennie McAlpine, senior director
of Work-Life Programs at the
University’s
Work-Life
Resource
Center, wrote in an email to The Daily
that because of low compensation,
Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County
are
experiencing
an
educator
shortage.
“It is hard for staff to stay in a
chronically
undercompensated,
demanding
job
and
care
for
themselves
and
their
families,”
McAlpine wrote.
Working during a pandemic
Source 1 also said these teachers
were called back to work in-person
by the University amid the COVID-
19 pandemic, long before the vaccines
were readily available.
“We’re needed by the University
and they showed that by having
us continue to work through the
pandemic while a lot of the families
were working from the comfort of
their homes at the time,” Source 1 said.
“But we’re not being compensated for
being critical staff.”
Though children ages 5-11 just
became eligible to receive their
COVID-19 vaccines as of Nov. 10,
children under five are still not
eligible for vaccination. As a result,
teachers have been working with an
unvaccinated
population,
putting
themselves at risk of being exposed to
COVID-19.
With low vaccination rates in K-12
schools as well as a staff shortage, Ann
Arbor has seen many school closures
this fall due to low staff numbers.
Source 2 said child care workers
are in even more of a dire situation
than others considering that they
teach children who are often sick.
“Since we work with children, we
get sick often,” Source 2 said. “If you
have sick symptoms, you can’t come
to work because you have to get tested
and have your test results before you
can come back, even if it’s just a cold.
We’re always understaffed and that’s
stretching teachers.”
According to McAlpine, 90% of
the Work-Life Resource Center’s
funding comes directly from tuition,
while 10% comes directly from the
University. This, according to Source
1, is a large part of the problem.
“The University expects the child
care centers to pay for themselves,
which in turn raises tuition costs,
which is a burden to families and it
doesn’t allow for the teachers in our
programs to make a living wage,”
Source 1 said.
PAIGE HODDER &
RILEY HODDER
Daily Staff Reporters
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
ANNA FUDER/Daily
Students gathered on the Diag on Nov. 19, some leaving their classes, to advocate for climate and misconduct accountability.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com