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April 13, 2022 - Image 1

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The Michigan Daily

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See DAILY INVESTIGATION,

Page 3

JULIAN WRAY &
VANESSA KIEFER

Managing Investigative Editors

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

INDEX
Vol. CXXXI, No. 72
©2022 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I N S E R T

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily on
Instagram,
@michigandaily

Daily Investigation finds decades of allegations of
unprofessional conduct by musicology professors

Faculty members accused of verbal abuse, creating hostile learning environment

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 13, 2022

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Content warning: sexual

assault

The 44th annual Take

Back The Night Ann Arbor
rally and march took place
in both the Michigan Union
ballroom and the streets
of Ann Arbor Thursday
evening.

Take Back The Night is

a collaboration between
the
Ann
Arbor-based

organization
Standing

Tough
Against
Rape

Society and the student
organization
United

Students
Against
Rape

(USAR). The rally featured
multiple local officials as
well as survivors of sexual
assault who spoke about
their personal experiences.

The rally was led by

activist Nicole Denson and
USAR’s student volunteers.
It also featured student
organizations,
such
as

the
Wolverine
Support

Network, Roe v. Rape and
WORTH, as well as campus
and local organizations,
such as DPSS: Special
Victims
Unit,
Planned

Parenthood of Michigan
and the Safehouse Center.

U.S.
Rep.
Debbie

Dingell, D-Mich., shared
her own experiences with
gender-based violence and
recounted instances of gun
violence in her childhood
home. She also explained
a time when a former
coworker had persistently
stalked her.

“Too
many
women

experience
this,”

Dingell said. “If you say
something at work or you
say you’ve seen it, the Me
Too movement is taking
it back for women.We are
standing up for each other,
having each person’s back,
believing
people.
You

need to believe people

when they come to you.”

Dingell
also
said

she is proud about the
reinstatement
of
the

Violence Against Women
Act, which was signed
into law two weeks ago
by U.S. President Joe
Biden after four years of
rejection from the U.S.
Senate. She also noted
the significance of Justice
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s
confirmation
Thursday

afternoon as a step forward
for womens’ voices in the
government.

EMILY BLUMBERG
Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arborites, campus groups march
against gender-based violence at 44th

Take Back the Night rally

Activists, survivors share stories, local leaders express support for

sexual assault prevention

HANNAH TORRES/Daily

Students march down the streets of Ann Arbor at the annual Take Back the Night rally to celebrate survivors and end sexual violence April 7.

U-M students
of Color talk
community

empowerment,
experiences at
predominantly
white institution

Speakers assail poor

representation at University,

highlight value of POC-oriented

organization

University
of

Michigan
students

of Color in student
organization leadership
positions met virtually
on Monday to discuss
their
experiences

finding and advocating
for
communities
of

Color
on
campus.

They also spoke to
their experiences as
people of Color at a
predominantly
white

institution (PWI). The
Center
for
Campus

Involvement’s Diversity
Equity and Inclusion
(DEI) team organized
the panel event.

LSA senior Adetola

Ojo,
Black
Student

Union co-programming
chair, spoke on the
culture
change
she

experienced coming to
the University from a
mixed race household.

“Coming
to

Michigan was a little bit
of (what) I like to call a
reverse culture shock,”
Ojo
said.
“I
didn’t

think so hard about the
fact that I was Black
growing up because it

wasn’t important to my
family … So coming to
Michigan was a little bit
different because it was
very much almost my
entire identity to a lot of
the people around me.”

In
2018,
the

University received an F
grade in representation
of Black students on
campus from a study
done by the University
of Southern California.
According to Data USA,
currently 52.2% of the
student population is
white and 4.26% of
students are Black or
African
American.

Additionally,
Asian

students make up 13.3%
of the population, 4.01%
of
students
identify

as two or more races,
0.152%
identify
as

American
Indian
or

Alaska
Native,
and

0.03% identify as Native
Hawaiian
or
Other

Pacific Islanders.

LSA senior Indeya

Lawrence,
vice

president of Mixed at
Michigan, said it was
difficult for her to find
a community at the
University when she

Read more at MichiganDaily.

com

VANESSA KIEFER
Managing Investigative

Editor

Read more at Michigan-

Daily.com

Diag display

raises awareness

of solitary

confinement
pitfalls for

Open MI Door

campaign

Advocacy efort allows

passersby to experience confines

of prison cell, aims to abolish

isolated incarceration

On
Tuesday,

the
University
of

Michigan
Project

Outreach collaborated
with
Citizens
For

Prison
Reform
to

host
“Solitary:
The

Family
Experience,”

an event aimed to
spread awareness and
support for the Open
MI Door campaign.
This
campaign
is

focused
on
ending

solitary
confinement

and helping advance
more safer, therapeutic
alternatives.

Project Outreach is a

psychology, service and
action-based program
for U-M students. The
Citizens
for
Prison

Reform is a family-
led
and
statewide

organization
focused

on
assisting
and

supporting
families

with
incarcerated

family
members
in

Michigan.

Lois Pullano, the

executive
director

of
Citizens
For

Prison
Reform
and

the
coordinator
for

the Open MI Door
campaign,
discussed

the purpose of the
campaign
and
the

greater
impact
of

solitary confinement in
the state of Michigan.
Standing on the Diag,
Pullano
explained

to
passers-by
the

harm that those in
solitary
confinement

experience as well its
impact on families and
staff members.

“(Solitary

confinement) not only
impacts
the
person

that is living in it — so
it’s very detrimental
to their mental health,
often
even
their

physical health — but
it also impacts all of
their family members,”
Pullano
said.
“It

impacts the staff and
the officers that are
working inside. When
people are placed in
this small of a space,
it’s where often there
is greater misuse of
power.”

LSA senior Mikayla

BergWood, a student
in
Psychology
211,

part
of
Project

MARLEE

SACKSNER

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at Michigan-

Daily.com

n
January
2020,
the

University
of
Michigan

Rackham Graduate School
provided
musicology

administrators
with
a

department review based, in part, on
a survey of doctoral students. The
report revealed multiple concerns of
musicology faculty engaging in verbal
abuse, contributing to a “troublesome
climate and culture” and significantly
below average graduation rates for
over two decades. A copy of this
review has been obtained by The
Michigan Daily.

“Students indicated a sense of

belonging … (that) is the lowest of all
programs in the humanities and the
arts,” the report said. “Your students
painted an alarming image of (the)
program climate.”

The report noted that these scores

had dropped in the four years since
Rackham’s previous review in 2015 of
the musicology department.

Anonymous
comments
from

individual graduate students were
also included in the report.

“A dozen comments in the open-

ended responses described instances
of the following: (1) faculty publicly
calling into question the intellectual
and scholarly ability of students,
especially
female
students;
(2)

faculty openly discussing issues of
disability, health, and other protected
personal information of students;
and, (3) faculty openly insulting and
demeaning students,” the report said.

A Daily investigation into the

musicology department climate found

numerous previously undisclosed
allegations of unprofessional conduct
against musicology professor Louise
Stein and the department’s current
chair, James Borders.

These allegations span from the

1980s to the present and range from
grade manipulation to insensitive
comments
targeting
students’

socioeconomic backgrounds.

This investigation also found

the Music, Theatre & Dance School

and Rackham administrators were
repeatedly made aware of concerns
regarding Stein and Borders. It is
unclear if these administrators have
taken any actions to address these
concerns outside of the review.

The investigation conducted by The

Daily is based on interviews with 16
current and former students along with
emails, documents and the internal
Rackham review.

In an email to The Daily, Borders

commented on the allegations against
him.

“Should the University open an

investigation, I would cooperate fully,”
Borders wrote.

Stein also commented on the

allegations against her in an emailed
statement to The Daily.

“The allegations … are deeply

concerning to me because I remain

dedicated to supporting students and
promoting their success at all levels,”
Stein wrote. “If the University decided
to investigate, I would certainly
cooperate fully.”

In an email to The Daily, David

Gier, dean of the Music, Theatre &
Dance School, explained the actions
administrators have taken in response
to the 2020 musicology department
review.

“We take very seriously the

experience of U-M students at SMTD,
and prioritize climate and culture
at the school,” Gier wrote. “While
I cannot comment on personnel
matters related to faculty and staff, I
am sharing the steps SMTD has taken
to address areas of concern outlined by
the 2020 Rackham Program Review
of the Musicology Department.”

Gier wrote that the Music, Theatre

& Dance School’s response to climate
concerns
included
the
creation

of a handbook for the musicology
department and the implementation
of anti-racism and equity-focused
training for faculty.

Gier did not comment on the

allegations against Stein or Borders.

In interviews with The Daily,

seven current and former musicology
students of the 16 total interviews spoke
of allegations of unprofessional conduct
against Borders. These students allege
that his conduct is an open secret
among students and faculty.

A former student who enrolled in

the doctoral program in musicology
in the early 2010s spoke of Borders’s
unprofessional conduct at department
events. The student asked to remain
anonymous out of fear of professional
repercussions. In this article, they will
be referred to as Emma.

Design By Erin Ruark
I

‘These people

don’t care

about me at all’

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