Monday night, the University 
of Michigan Diag was filled with 
over 100 voices chanting ‘Yes on 
three!’ as activists and Ann Arbor 
community members rallied for 
Proposal 3, also known as the 
Reproductive Freedom For All 
ballot initiative that will appear in 
the upcoming midterm election. 
The 
Reproductive 
Freedom 
For All proposal would amend 
the Michigan Constitution to 
enshrine the right to abortion, 
birth control and other forms 
of 
reproductive 
health 
care. 
Following the overturning of Roe 
v. Wade in June, access to abortion 
remains legal in Michigan for the 
time being under a preliminary 
injunction blocking a 1931 abortion 
ban. However, this injunction has 
already been challenged multiple 
times and there is no permanent 
legal protection for abortion in the 
state. 
The event kicked off with 
speeches from representatives for 
Promote the Vote — another ballot 

proposal this November, aimed 
at increasing voter accessibility 
— and the Reproductive Freedom 
For All initiative. Representatives 
spoke on the urgency of voting 
in this year’s election to support 
these ballot proposals and other 
Democratic politicians. 
Shanay 
Watson-Whittaker, 
deputy campaign manager for 
Reproductive Freedom For All, 
recounted her personal experience 
of having an abortion for an 
unplanned pregnancy. She said 
she was living in a shelter with her 
siblings at the time and was unable 
to financially support a child. 
“I had to make the decision to 
terminate my pregnancy because 
I could not imagine raising a child 
in that environment,” Watson-
Whittaker said. “I could not 
imagine putting myself through 
that kind of trauma and putting 
my family, my siblings through 
that trauma of raising a child 
in that environment. So I made 
that decision. I don’t regret that 
decision at all because I don’t know 
where I’d be if I didn’t make that 
decision.”
Watson-Whittaker 
urged 

attendees 
to 
vote 
‘yes’ 
on 
Reproductive Freedom For All, 
which will appear as Proposal 3 
on the ballot, and encourage other 
people in their lives to do the same. 
“S 
 
peak to your friends and 
neighbors 
and 
your 
family 
members about why you support 
Proposal 3,” Watson-Whittaker 
said. “Normalize the conversation 
around 
reproductive 
care. 
Normalize it. Talk to your friends, 
neighbors and family about it like 
it’s just a sunny day out here in 
Michigan.”
Michigan 
Attorney 
General 
Dana Nessel was also in attendance 
Monday evening, as she recounted 
reading Margaret Atwood’s “The 
Handmaid’s Tale” in an English 
class as a U-M student. Nessel 
said the novel, which depicts a 
dystopian world where women 
are classified as “handmaids” 
and forced to bear children of 
high-profile government officials, 
mirrors the current state of 
reproductive rights in Michigan.
“It’s not really fiction anymore, 
is it?” Nessel said. “It’s actually 
closer to reality because we now 
have a government that is able to 

regulate and politicize the bodies 
of women in a way that they, 
frankly, don’t regulate or politicize 
the bodies of men.” 
The event was organized by 
the University’s chapter of College 
Democrats. LSA senior Vivi Iyer, 
College Democrats co-chair, told 
The Michigan Daily there is still 
uncertainty about abortion access 
in Michigan, but she is motivated by 
the support of attendees and other 
activists fighting for Reproductive 
Freedom For All. 
“It’s encouraging to see so many 
people backing people who can get 
pregnant of all ages,” Iyer said. “I 
have more confidence that Prop 3 
will pass.” 
Nessel also spoke at the rally 
about the importance of being 
politically engaged, especially for 
students. 
“If you haven’t gotten involved 
and you haven’t been engaged and 
you don’t vote, you’re not gonna get 
another chance to bring back your 
fundamental rights,” Nessel said. 
“Because once they’re gone, they’re 
gone and they’re not coming back.” 

Three multicultural lounges in 
University of Michigan residence 
halls 
will 
reopen 
this 
fall 
following the conclusion of recent 
renovations. 
The 
Abeng 
Multicultural 
Lounge in East Quad reopened 
on Sept. 13. The Edward Said 
Multicultural Lounge in North 
Quad and the Yuri Kochiyama 
Multicultural Lounge in South 
Quad will open on Oct. 12 and 
Nov. 15, respectively. 
The lounge reopenings this 
fall are part of the Multicultural 
Lounge Program, which consists 
of 18 lounges in total, all housed 
within U-M residence halls. The 
program was first created by U-M 
alum Dr. Harvey Slaughter in the 
1970s, and the program celebrated 
its 50th anniversary last year. 
Jeannene 
Jones-Rupert, 
assistant director for diversity 
and 
inclusion 
at 
Michigan 
Housing, said the University’s 
multicultural lounge program is 
the only one in the country that 
exists within college residence 
halls. 
Jones-Rupert 
said 
the 
program was inspired by the Black 
Action Movement, a student-
led initiative in the 1970s that 
advocated for an increase in Black 
student enrollment and better 
supported community spaces for 
activism work.
“These were spaces that were 
seen as hubs of connection, 
support, 
for 
socializing, 
for 
having programming, for coming 
together 
to 
talk 
about 
the 
advocacy work that (students) 
were doing on campus through 
their student activism work,” 
Jones-Rupert said. “The spaces 
were created out of a need for a 
place for culture and community 
and 
connection 
when 
there 
weren’t those kinds of spaces on 
campus.”
Jones-Rupert 
said 
students 
were involved in the process 

Four 
candidates 
who 
are 
currently running for a spot on 
the University of Michigan Board 
of Regents met Monday morning 
at the Alexander G. Ruthven 
Museums Building for a Q&A 
moderated by Silvia Pedraza, chair 
of the Senate Advisory Committee 
of School Affairs (SACUA).
The candidates are running for 
two spots in the Nov. 8 general 
election to serve an eight-year 
term. The contenders include 
incumbents Katherine White (D) 
and Michael Behm (D) as well 
as Green Party nominee Sherry 
Wells and Republican candidate 
Sevag Vartanian. Lena Epstein, 
the other Republican nominee for 
Regent, was not in attendance. 
The board currently consists 
of two Republicans and eight 
Democrats.
All of the candidates gave 
brief statements before the Q&A 
session. Questions were chosen 
prior to the event and were asked 
either directly from the attendees 
or anonymously from Pedraza. 
Behm spoke first and discussed 
the challenges the University 
has undergone during the past 
eight years of his tenure. He said 
while the University still has not 

addressed all of its problems, it 
has taken strides toward making 
campus a safer, healthier and 
more inclusive place to learn.
“One of the prime problems 
that I found out was with 
communication,” 
Behm 
said. 
“There was an issue you would go 
forward and address and instead, 
that did not occur with the 
administration, as evidenced by 
the no-confidence vote. So those 
are some issues issues that were 
interrelated with labor issues and 
also safety and the environment of 
safety and assault on campus.”
Behm 
acknowledged 
the 
numerous 
sexual 
misconduct 

allegations 
against 
University 
officials 
that 
have 
surfaced 
in 
recent 
years, 
specifically 
mentioning 
the 
allegations 
against former University Provost 
Martin Philbert, as well as the 
thousands of abuse allegations 
made 
against 
late 
University 
athletic doctor Robert Anderson. 
Behm also discussed the effect 
of the COVID-19 pandemic on 
the University and the firing of 
former University President Mark 
Schlissel as some of the biggest 
challenges the board has faced 
during Behm’s time as a regent. 

Students, faculty and staff at the 
University of Michigan reported 
feeling less positive about the 
general University climate but 
better about the diversity, equity 
and climate specifically than in 
2016 according to the 2021 DEI 
climate survey conducted at the 
University this past fall. 
The findings of the survey 
were discussed at a series of 
sessions run by the U-M Office 
of Diversity Equity and Inclusion 
for all interested U-M community 
members on Sept. 27 in the 
Michigan Union and Oct. 6 in the 
Michigan League. Both sessions 
were livestreamed, recorded and 
posted on the U-M Diversity, 
Equity & Inclusion website. These 
results come as the campus wraps 
up its first DEI five-year strategic 
plan, in which all departments on 
campus were provided a guiding 
framework for leadership and 
success by the Office of Diversity, 
Equity and Inclusion.
The 
framework 
was 
built 
around DEI Plan 1.0, which 
Chief Diversity Officer Tabbye 
Chavous referred to as “the first 
five-year plan”, prompting every 
department on campus to identify 

what DEI meant to them. Many 
units also came up with different 
practices 
around 
admissions, 
hiring and retention that have 
been implemented and are already 
making a difference, Chauvous 
explained. 
William 
Axinn, 
research 
professor 
in 
the 
Sociology 
Department, 
presented 
the 
survey’s 
approach 
and 
methodology. The 2021 survey 
was developed by the Office of 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
and 
mirrored 
the 
survey 
conducted in 2016, with new 
additional questions on mental 
health, health and COVID-19.
Axinn said the online survey 
yielded a highly representative 
sample of students, staff and 
faculty, whose response rates 
were high: 49%, 62% and 64%, 
respectively.
“This is among the very best 
that’s ever been done,” Axinn said. 
“So we’re thrilled with that.”
Chavous led the conversation 
about 
the 
University’s 
DEI 
climate. Chavous explained the 
term, “climate,” and how it applies 
in a diversity, equity and inclusion 
context. 
“Climate is intended to feel out 
a temperature that’s hot or cold,” 
Chavous said. “You can think 
about the climate of a setting in the 
same way — is it hot or is it cold? Is 

it uninviting? Is it unwelcoming? 
It really is about how people 
experience a setting — what they 
feel, observe, see on a daily basis.”
Grant Benson, Director of Data 
Collections for the Institute of 
Social Research, said he attended 
the event to better understand 
how he could implement these 
survey results into his work.
“I want to know: how can 
I contribute to bringing our 
department into alignment with 
University values?” Grant said. 
“When you talk about diversity, 
inclusion and justice in some 
cases, what are the action steps? 
What’s the next step? What can 
we actually do to promote those 
values?”
LSA junior Sophia Grant said 
she 
supports 
the 
University’s 
efforts to better incorporate DEI 
into campus life. 
“There’s definitely a lot of 
places where we can grow and 
improve,” 
Grant 
said. 
“Not 
everything is completely equitable 
yet. I’ve talked to people who feel 
like they don’t feel as represented 
on campus. I think it’s important 
that we look at the results of 
these surveys and look at where 
we can go to improve from where 
we are now to making U-M more 
equitable.”

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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 95
©2022 The Michigan Daily

NEWS............................1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

S TAT E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Campus Climate survey results released, 
University readies for phase two of equity plan

Newly renovated 
multicultural 
lounges to reopen 
in Michigan 
Housing this fall

Regents candidates discuss sexual 
misconduct, health care at forum

 JI HOON CHOI
Daily News Contributor

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

 Community members 
reflect on history of the safe 
spaces, design process 

Perceptions of DEI at ‘U’ improved, views of overall culture declined in past five years
Four contenders talk platforms, answer questions about priorities and values

NEWS
ADMINISTRATION

‘Normalize the conversation’: Activists, 
politicians rally for reproductive rights 

 Over 100 protest in support for Proposal 3 in November election

Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com

ELLIE VICE/Daily

LILA TURNER/Daily

CAMPUS LIFE

 COURTNEY PLAZA & 
EMMA SPRING 
Daily News Contributors

CARLIN PENDELL 
Daily Staff Reporter

 SAMANTHA RICH
Daily Staff Reporter

The 
Students 
Allied 
for 
Freedom and Equality (SAFE) 
chapter at the University of 
Michigan constructed a 36-foot 
long, eight-foot tall “apartheid 
wall” to represent the current 
Israeli 
separation 
wall 
that 
stretches over 400 miles in the 
West Bank. SAFE members stood 
in front of their version of the 
wall at the Diag on Thursday to 
share narratives from Palestinian 
refugees 
with 
attendees 
and 
passersby. 
The 
separation 
wall 
was 
authorized 
by 
the 
Israeli 
government in June 2002 and 
includes electric fences, trenches 
and security patrols. Since it was 
first built, the wall has faced 
international 
criticism 
from 
the United Nations because it 
illegally annexes some of the most 
fertile lands and water sources in 
the West Bank.
SAFE’s wall featured paintings 
depicting the treatment of the 
more than 5 million Palestinian 
refugees 
and 
displayed 
facts 
about 
the 
refugees 
enclosed 
within the wall. Painted along the 
wall’s surface read “1.6 million 
Palestinians live under military 
blockade”, 
as 
well 
as 
other 
information: nearly two-thirds of 
those in poverty and 1.4 million of 
those residing in the 140-square 
mile Gaza strip struggle with 
food insecurity.
LSA sophomore Bilal Irfan, 
SAFE board member and LSA 
Student Government president, 
said the event’s goal was to bring 
light to Palestinian suffering 
under apartheid, a term Irfan 
said is accepted by the Human 
Rights 
Watch 
and 
Amnesty 
International to describe the 
crimes 
committed 
by 
Israel 
authorities. 
Irfan 
said 
the 
narratives SAFE highlighted at 
the event come from Palestinians 
and allies. 

SAFE holds 
demonstration 
to stand with 
Palestinian 
refugees

Students construct wall 
representing Israeli 
separation barrier on the Diag

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

CAMPUS LIFE
GOVERNMENT

 SEJAL PATIL
Daily Staff Reporter

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., speaks at the Reproductive Rights Rally in the Daily Monday evening.

Incumbent Democrat Michael J. Behm speaks at the Regent Candidate Forum at 
Ruthven Building’s University Hall Monday Morning. Reproductive Rights Rally in the 
Daily Monday evening.

