Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com News Wednesday, April 6, 2022 — 3 ADMINISTRATION The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 25. If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s highest court. The Michigan Daily sat down with University of Michigan experts and students to discuss the significance of Jackson’s nom- ination and last week’s confir- mation hearings. Campus reaction to Jack- son’s nomination Law Students Nia Vogel and Dashaya Foreman are the managing editor and editor- in-chief, respectively, of the Michigan Law Review and are the first pair of Black women to lead the law journal in its 121-year history. They are also members of the Michigan Black Law Student Association. In an interview with the Daily, Fore- man said she felt encouraged to see someone who shares her identity nominated to the Supreme Court. “I’m taking a lot of pride in this moment,” Foreman said. “Now being in law school and seeing her be nominated, and hopefully (being) confirmed very shortly, (she is) very inspiring for me. I think it’s long overdue, but I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction for students of Color who are interested in being legal advocates.” Jackson’s qualifications for the associate Supreme Court justice position –– which include a degree from Har- vard Law, a federal courtship position and a history of public service, as well as her back- ground having grown up in a major city and attended a pub- lic high school — would make her a historic addition to the Court. Jackson also served as a federal public defender from 2005-2007. During that time, she represented four Guantá- namo Bay detainees following the landmark 2004 Supreme Court decision that detainees in the military prison could challenge their detentions in federal court. If confirmed, she would be the first former public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. Jackson would also join Justices Samuel A. Alito and Elena Kagan as the only Supreme Court justices to have graduated from a public high school. Vogel reiterated Foreman’s excitement at the prospect of Jackson’s appointment. As someone who is an advocate for criminal justice reform, Vogel said she is inspired by Judge Jackson’s background in criminal defense. “Symbolically, (Jackson’s nomination) definitely shows Black women … that they are accepted and can work towards their goals, no mat- ter what the capacity is,” Vogel said. “It’s really great seeing someone coming from a crimi- nal defense background on the Supreme Court … and bringing that per- spec- tive to the crimi- nal jus- tice cases that the court will see.” Law professor Richard D. Friedman specializes in constitutional law and the U.S. Supreme Court at U-M Law School. Friedman has argued two cases before the Court, Bris- coe v. Virginia (2004) and Ham- mon v. Indiana (2006). Fried- man spoke with The Daily about Jackson’s nomination and reflected on her four days of testimony in front of the Senate. Though Jackson’s work as a former public defender is admirable, Fried- man said, it likely would not have much of an impact on her deci- sions as a Supreme Court justice. “I wouldn’t overplay the signifi- cance of (Jack- son’s public defense background),” Friedman said. “When (judges) take on the judicial role, they realize that they’re no longer advocates — they’re judges. Her job on the Court will not be to be the defendant’s repre- sentative on the Court, it’s to be a judge … I would guess that she’ll be somewhat readier than most of the other (jus- tices) to recognize defen- dants’ rights … But we’ll see over time.” LSA junior Julia Schetten- helm, communications director of the Univer- sity’s chapter of College Democrats, wrote in an email to The Daily that the organiza- tion supports Jack- son’s nomination to the Supreme Court. UMich experts, community members react to Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson Faculty call out coded racial language in confirmation hearings, celebrate increased representation in judiciary IRENA LI & VANESSA KIEFER Daily Staff Reporter & Managing Investigative Editor VP From Page 1 Design by Melia Kenny Overall, we’re pretty pleased with how the FSL rush went in terms of growth. MHousing and MDining The Michigan Daily: What led the University to decide to demolish the Northwood III apartments and build new living spaces for students? Martino Harmon: The housing experience is a big part of the overall student experience. It’s really important that we create the best environment possible and certainly Northwood’s been around for a while. Planning (started) before the pandemic, and it was really time to — with Regent approval — introduce a 1,200-bed facility. I don’t know that it will be called the “Northwood Apartments,” but it’s a new facility that will provide more opportunities for engagement. So that was really the main reason for this, and I’m just thrilled that we’re able to move forward with that project. TMD: Will the new residence buildings be apartment-style living or similar to the larger residence halls on campus such as South or West Quad Residence Halls? MH: It’ll definitely be different than the current Northwood Apartments. It’ll be a large residence hall, but it will be a suite- style arrangement. So it won’t be the standard double (dorm) rooms throughout, but it will be a lot of suites and a lot of lounges and study spaces. TMD: What student demographics — such as undergraduate or graduate students — will the new residence hall primarily serve? MH: We haven’t exactly spelled that out yet. Our typical philosophy — other than maybe (Munger Graduate Residences)— is that our facilities will be open to students that apply (for housing). Our priority is to house all new (first-year) students, and then whatever space we have left can go to sophomores, juniors, transfer students, maybe graduate students. Right now, we haven’t specified that this new facility is just for one particular group of candidates. TMD: With the return to an in-person MDining experience this year for students, how has Student Life worked to ensure all residence and dining halls are adequately staffed, particularly after the University experienced campus- wide staffing shortages? MH: The dining experience, much like housing, is an engagement experience. It’s not just about eating. It’s about the opportunity for students to engage, to learn, to have a full experience. But we have been challenged by the labor shortages — just like restaurants in Ann Arbor and places all over the nation. Our goal has been to keep everything open, and we’ve accomplished that goal — we don’t want to close any dining facilities. We’ve also been able to make adjustments to make sure we have enough service: where we knew we couldn’t hire enough students, we made opportunities available for (University) staff who were not working in dining and wanted some additional work. We’re also focused on addressing labor issues. We were able to make a slight increase in the average wages by about $1 across the board, but we know that we need to do more to be competitive. The labor shortage is a real challenge, and that’s why it’s important for us to keep looking at ways to address that challenge. TMD: Student activists and campus leaders have been discussing the possibility of a $15 minimum wage for student workers this semester. Does Student Life have any plans to explore a $15 minimum wage for student workers? MH: I can only really speak for Student Life workers in areas like dining or in mail facilities and residence halls. We have been looking at how we can make our wages more competitive. We’re still doing an analysis of that and I’m optimistic that we’ll continue moving forward. I know the regents are also looking at competitive wages across campus. TMD: As the Vice President of Student Life, you’re part of the U-M administration, but you also oversee the different student organizations and different voices on campus. So in regards to different forms of student activism, what do you feel like the administration is most receptive to? MH: Student activism is an important part of the culture of change at the University of Michigan — it has been for years and it always will be. The administration respects that and we actually embrace that. I think it’s important for students who are involved in activism to be able to get information to understand the issue, to understand what you want to change, understand what’s currently here and then move forward with what you want. That doesn’t mean that everyone will always agree, but that means that we need to have a dialogue, to create change together. Sometimes you can change the institution and make progress — even though it may not be to the extent that students want — over a period of time. We want students to understand that they do make a difference with everything that they do. Daily News Editor Roni Kane can be reached at ronikane@umich.edu. Daily Staff Reporters Carly Brechner and Sejal Patil can be reached at cbrech@umich.edu and sejpatil@ umich.edu. Commemorating Women’s History Month: 5 impactful Wolverine female leaders From three-time Olympian to the second longest-serving congresswoman, The Michigan Daily honors U-M women RONI KANE, CARLIN PENDELL , & SEJAL PETIL Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporters “Across the U.S. and at the Uni- versity of Michigan, March was Women’s History Month. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8 “Women’s History Week,” but it was not until 1987 that the National Women’s History Alliance suc- cessfully petitioned Congress to dedicate the entire month to commemorating the accom- plishments of women in the United States. The University admitted the first female students in 1870, over 50 years after it was found- ed in 1817, and the first women’s residence halls were opened in 1915. Since then, the Michigan League was built as a space to support women on campus and the Center for the Education of Women (CEW+) was founded to provide women and under- served students with financial and academic support. Activism for women’s rights at the University has persist- ed into the present day, with community members continu- ing to call for support for both reproductive rights and sexual assault survivors, among other things. In celebration of Women’s History Month, The Michigan Daily is commemorating the life and legacy of five influential Wolverine women who have made, and continue to make, an impact on the campus com- munity. 1. Susan Collins Provost Susan M. Collins, executive vice president for aca- demic affairs, was appointed on July 6, 2020, after serving as interim provost since January 2020 following the firing of for- mer Provost Martin Philbert. Before her tenure at the Univer- sity, Collins was Public Policy Dean, an economics professor at Georgetown University and an associate economics profes- sor at Harvard University. In an interview with The Daily, Collins said bearing wit- ness to the incredible diversity of the University’s 19 schools and colleges was one of her favorite parts of being provost. She said the initiatives she worked on to support student mental health and wellness are some of her proudest accom- plishments to date. “That’s an initiative that is a joint partnership between the provost’s office — so academic space — and student life,” Col- lins said. “We want students to thrive, and given the challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic and our racial reck- oning, it’s just really important to (support students).” Collins will step down from her role as provost on May 15 to serve as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In her new position, she will also participate in national monetary policymaking as a part of the Federal Open Market Committee. In light of her retirement, the University’s Board of Regents unanimously voted on March 24 to award Collins with a Regents’ Citation of Honor for her dedica- tion to her role at the University. Collins said she thinks her identity as a woman of Color has positively impacted her style of leadership, emphasizing that too often she finds herself to be the only woman of Color in the room. “Too often there’s a sense that if you talk about being a Black woman, for example, it down- plays your ability to be seen as a strong leader,” Collins said. “I think we need to push back on that. Women have so much to offer, people of Color have so much to offer, and we need to listen to one another and work together in those spaces and rec- ognize that there’s not only one way to lead and to make a differ- ence.” At their meeting on March 24, the regents approved Den- tistry Dean Laurie K. McCauley to replace Collins and serve as the University’s next provost and vice president for academic affairs. In an email to The Daily, McCau- ley commended Collins for her involvement in the campus com- munity, a quality McCauley said she hopes to emulate. Read more at MichiganDaily.com Zimmerman, Hillman of EnvisionBlue elected as next CSG president, VP Over 1,900 ballots submitted in University-wide election, ballot proposal results released SAMANTHA RICH Daily Staff Reporter LSA juniors Noah Zimmer- man and Jackie Hillman of the EnvisionBlue party will be the next CSG president and vice president, according to prelimi- nary election results obtained by The Michigan Daily shortly after voting closed Thursday night. Zimmerman and Hill- man ran against LSA junior Erica Nelson and LSA sopho- more Ronald Burgaj of the Diverse&Dedicated party. On March 24, both CSG executive tickets participated in a debate hosted by CSG Election Team and The Daily to share their platform and policy ideas. Following notification of the results, Zimmerman and Hill- man expressed their gratitude and desire to get to work as soon as possible. In an inter- view with The Daily Friday morning, Zimmerman said he looks forward to representing the student body. “We’re here to impact stu- dents’ everyday lives,” Zim- merman said. “We’re here to represent the broad range of students on campus and we’re hoping to be able to be success- ful in doing that.” Hillman told The Daily she wanted to thank students who voted and said she is excited to create positive change. “We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who showed up to vote,” Hillman said. “We’re excited to actually work on the projects that we’ve been talking about, starting right now.” Nelson and Burgaj did not respond to The Daily for com- ment in time for publication. The EnvisionBlue platform ran on 30 policy action items and 15 advocacy initiatives centered on themes including accessibility and affordability for all students, addressing the University’s history of sexual misconduct and increasing student engagement with CSG initiatives and elections. Zim- merman and Hillman are plan- ning to reorganize the CSG executive branch before tack- ling their specific initiatives. “We think that the best way for our executive branch to operate efficiently and get any of the projects, any of the advocacy that we want done is to make sure that we’re having the organization and structure within our team to be able to adequately do that,” Zimmer- man said. In addition to electing exec- utives, students voted for rep- resentatives to CSG for their college — 15 for LSA, seven for Rackham Graduate School, six for the College of Engineer- ing, three for the Ross School of Business, and one for each of the remaining undergraduate and graduate schools. Students also elected 19 LSA assembly members and the University of Michigan Police Department (UMPD) Oversight Committee student representative. Below are the preliminary results for the top-voted repre- sentatives: LSA: Emma Sklar Law School: Ewurama Appia- gyei-Dankah Rackham Graduate School: Hayden Jackson School of Dentistry: Palak Shah School of Public Health: Sarah Cieslak School of Public Policy: Divya Periakaruppan College of Architecture and Urban Planning: Tara Mehta College of Engineering: Maria Liberty Fields College of Pharmacy: Yuan Hang Medical School: Curtis Kuo Ross School of Business: Sophie Peretz School of Art and Design: San- tana Malnaik School of Education: Stepha- nie Vuylsteke School of Information: Tobias Roth School of Kinesiology: Ember Larson School of Nursing: Estrella Escutia School of Social Work: Matt Dargay School of Music, Theatre & Dance: Emelia Piane UMPD Oversight Committee: Eli Merren This year, 1,912 total ballots were submitted to the University-wide election, almost 100 more total votes from the Fall 2021 semester election. 1,057 voters supported the addition of a sustainability requirement into the academic curriculum, while 804 did not. Additionally, 1,611 stu- dents supported a non-voting stu- dent seat on the Board of Regents, while 240 did not.