Students
gathered
in
the
Trotter Multicultural Center
Wednesday
evening
for
the
center’s
first
“Kaleidoscope
conversation”,
an
event
for
students
to
engage
in
discussion
about
their
thoughts and feelings related
to environmental racism. The
conversation
addressed
the
ways in which environmental
policies
and
regulations
negatively
impact
minority
racial and ethnic groups at
disproportionate rates.
The event, titled “Unpacking
Environmental
Racism,”
was
facilitated by Brennan McBeth,
program manager for Trotter,
and Taubman graduate student
Fareeha
Khan,
a
program
assistant at Trotter.
McBeth said the Kaleidoscope
program series replaces the
Meals
of
Meaning
program
from
previous
years
and
serves as a series of difficult
conversations centering around
race, ethnicity and how people’s
identities influence their lives
and experiences.
“(I hope Kaleidoscope helps
attendees to) interrogate how a
person’s social identities impact
their experience of the world
… and how we have to look at
these issues and what we see in
the media with a more critical
lens,” McBeth said.
McBeth started the evening
by sharing three videos with
the
group.
First,
attendees
viewed
a
clip
from
The
Atlantic titled “Environmental
Racism is the New Jim Crow,”
which defined environmental
racism and briefed the ways
in which minority groups are
disproportionately
affected
by environmental issues and
natural disasters.
Next,
attendees
watched
the trailer for HBO’s “Katrina
Babies”
—
a
documentary
focused on following up with
people
who
were
children
during
Hurricane
Katrina
by asking them what their
experiences
were
and
how
they are still affected by it.
Students
were
prompted
to
ask
themselves:
how
may
environmental
racism
affect
you as you progress through
your careers and education?
How will it impact your success?
What about people who have
been impacted by disasters such
as Hurricane Katrina?
Students
responded
by
sharing their own memories
of
Hurricane
Katrina
and
discussing short-term efforts
that were made to send aid to
displaced
people
from
New
Orleans.
McBeth then shared a news
clip from Al Jazeera about the
Jackson, Miss., water crisis
earlier this year, in which the
city of Jackson ran out of clean
water after flooding damaged a
key water sanitation facility.
After viewing these videos,
attendees
were
invited
to
participate
in
an
open
discussion
on
environmental
racism.
McBeth
and
Khan
asked students to share their
thoughts
and
feelings
on
how
environmental
racism
manifests on the local and
global scales and the impacts
of media coverage, disaster aid
and power dynamics. Attendees
discussed the large amount of
media dedicated to the death of
Queen Elizabeth II as opposed
to that dedicated to devastating
flooding in Pakistan.
Finally,
McBeth
asked
attendees how they defined
environmental
justice
before
inviting
attendees
to discuss some steps they
could
take
to
move
away
from
environmental
racism
and
toward
environmental
justice. Attendees shared the
importance of raising awareness
about
environmental
racism,
as well as having difficult and
uncomfortable
conversations
with one another.
Social Work graduate student
Renee Price said the event taught
her how to think more critically
about how environmental issues
are portrayed in the media.
“It’s about listening more
than talking, giving students
space to participate in the
discussion, making space for
other students to feel present
in
the
conversation,”
Khan
said. “Heavy discussions are an
opportunity to talk, but an even
bigger opportunity to listen.”
Dr. Arline Geronimus, professor
in the School of Public Health
at the University of Michigan,
was presented with the James S.
Jackson
Distinguished
Career
Award for Diversity Scholarship
Thursday
during
an
event
co-hosted
by
the
University’s
Office of Diversity, Equity &
Inclusion and the LSA National
Center for Institutional Diversity.
The biennial award was first
given in 2017 and was named after
its first recipient, James S. Jackson,
a
psychology
professor
who
researched issues related to race
and health. Since then, the award
has been given to honor the work
of U-M faculty who have made
significant contributions through
research,
scholarship,
service
and mentorship to the fields of
diversity, inequality and justice.
Tabbye Chavous, vice provost
for equity and inclusion, said she
believes Geronimus is incredibly
deserving of the award due to her
unique investigations into the
intersections of health and societal
marginalization.
“Dr.
Geronimus
originated
an
analytical
framework,
‘weathering,’
well
known
to
many of us now, that posits that
the health of African-Americans
is
subject
to
early
health
deterioration as a consequence of
social exclusion,” Chavous said.
“Much of her scholarly work is
related to testing this structurally
rooted biopsychosocial model.”
During
her
graduate
studies,
Geronimus
proposed
her
Weathering
Hypothesis,
which states that members of
marginalized groups are often
diagnosed with adverse health
effects earlier in life because of
the effect that chronic stress from
sustained marginalization has on
the body over time.
Geronimus
then
presented
a
lecture
entitled
“Deepening
Diversity: A DEI of Public Health
Consequence.”
Throughout
her
talk, Geronimus reflected on her
career and the importance of
diversity, equity and inclusion at
institutions of higher education.
She said some of the inspiration
for her work came from her Jewish
roots. Her paternal grandparents
escaped from Russian Pogroms
in the early 1900s and eventually
immigrated to the United States.
Even
after
her
grandparents
immigrated, Geronimus said her
father encountered anti-Semitism
and classism growing up.
“He spent his white-collar work
days
among
the
Ivy-educated
physicians in Boston,” Geronimus
said. “Actively managing (his)
social identity (by doing) what he
referred to as ‘thinking Yiddish,
acting British’ … my father could
not be his authentic self. He was
perpetually alert to the possibility
of being stigmatized, discredited or
humiliated if his ethnic immigrant
working-class roots or city college
education were exposed.”
Because of what her father
went through, Geronimus said she
became interested in researching
the physical and mental health
impacts of chronic stress caused
by systems of oppression, including
racism and religious intolerance.
“Over time, chronic exposure
to
everyday
challenges
and
threats has detrimental effects on
cellular systems,” Geronimus said.
“Prolonged exposure to stressors
weakens and dysregulates the
cardiovascular, immune, endocrine
and metabolic systems, damages
vital tissues and organs, increases
the risk of obesity, the risk of
adverse pregnancy outcomes, (and)
the early onset of diseases.”
Throughout
her
career,
Geronimus said she has worked to
increase the diversity of doctoral
students in the Health Behavior
and Health Education (HBHE)
department. In the 25 years that
she has chaired the department’s
doctoral admissions committee,
she said she has watched more
than 120 HBHE doctoral students
graduate, with over a third of
them having been historically
underrepresented students.
From her research, Geronimus
said she found many of the
underrepresented students with
whom she worked with may
have suffered from the effects of
“weathering,” with chronic stress
leading to serious health conditions
later on in their careers.
“(The) data (is) preliminary …
but I have estimated that 30% of
Black or Latinx doctoral alumni
have
died
or
developed
life-
threatening diseases somewhere
between the late 40s and early
50s,” Geronimus said. “That could
reflect at least in part weathering
processes … What percent of white
doctoral alumni from the same
cohorts have died or developed
life-threatening,
potentially
weathering-related disease? The
admittedly soft estimate I have
calculated … is 1%.”
Geronimus
said
what
she
observed in her students was
consistent with other academic
studies, including one led by
Cynthia Colen, associate professor
of sociology at Ohio State University,
in 2020. Colen’s study analyzed a
nationally representative sample
of adolescents and found that
Black Americans who attended
predominantly white institutions
(PWIs) had a higher risk of
developing metabolic disease by
the age of 30 than Black Americans
who attended historically Black
colleges
and
universities.
She
urged those who work for DEI
Today marks the beginning of Dr.
Santa Ono’s presidency. After being
announced as the 15th president of
the University of Michigan in July,
the campus community has been
preparing for the start of a new era for
the University.
Upon hearing of Ono’s selection
as the next president, members of
the student body quickly took note of
Ono’s reputation as an administrator
who interacts with students. Members
of Central Student Government (CSG)
were some of the first students to
wonder if this reputation had any
merit, and, according to LSA senior
and CSG President Noah Zimmerman,
it does.
“(Ono) is just so student-focused
that we are really excited to work
with him,” Zimmerman said. “He has
a lot of enthusiasm for what we’ve
brought him already, and I think he
will be really keen on engaging with
students.”
Zimmerman
said
CSG
has
established communication with Ono
already, and that he hopes an open
line of communication will continue
because of its importance to campus
and student life.
“He said from the get-go that we
need to be transparent, we need to be
honest with him, and if something’s
not working, tell him, because he
wants to know,” Zimmerman said.
“There’s a level of respect, and I think
that’s always there, and I want to make
sure that we maintain that.’”
Business junior Trevor Wallace,
who serves as the finance and
operations coordinator at Student
Sustainability Coalition (SSC), said the
SSC is “cautiously optimistic” about
Ono’s presidency, primarily because
of the sustainability efforts he oversaw
as the president of the University of
British Columbia.
“He has a good past record at the
University of British Columbia with
sustainability
progress,”
Wallace
said. “We think that he represents
a great change from the previous
administration in allowing student
voices
to
(make
sustainability
progress), and being able to have
sustainability be a top priority of the
University.”
Wallace said the SSC’s main
concern is ensuring that student voices
are not neglected, and that he hopes
Ono’s presidency will mark a change
in that.
“I know that, in the past, we’ve
had many student groups feel that
we’ve been pushing things for a long
time but that we haven’t been heard,”
Wallace said. “It’s possible that that’s
the way administration works, and it’s
possible that students might continue
to be neglected, and that is a concern of
many students on campus.”
Wallace said the SSC hopes to
build a positive relationship with
Ono. He said collaboration between
students and administration is the
most effective way to create change on
campus.
“Just having a relationship and
being open about what their actions
are and what their goals are, and how
(SSC’s) goals can match up with that,
would be a great stepping point to be
able to have a long-term student and
president connection,” Wallace said.
Jacob
Lederman,
associate
professor of sociology at the University
of Michigan-Flint campus, is an
active member of the One University
campaign, a faculty and student-led
group advocating for equitable funding
on the University’s three campuses.
Lederman said he hopes Ono will
prioritize building relationships with
not only their organization, but also
with the satellite campuses as well.
“We would like a chance to build
a relationship with him personally,”
Lederman
said.
“Speaking
only
with the campus leadership, as in
the leadership at Dearborn and
Flint, there has often been a lot of
miscommunication that seems to go on
between our campus and leadership at
the presidential and regental level.
So, we’d like the opportunity to share
directly with him some of the issues
we’re working on.”
At the September Board of Regents
meeting,
then-Interim
University
President
Mary
Sue
Coleman
announced a transformative plan
to improve U-M Flint’s enrollment
rates in response to a 30% drop since
2014. Lederman said One University
is cautious of this plan and hopes that
Ono will lead it in the right direction.
“We are optimistic but concerned
about a planned ‘transformation’ at
the Flint campus,” Lederman said.
“One University wants to work with
President Ono and others to make sure
that that investment helps to promote
equity and access to U-M Flint and
specifically to make sure that our
students on the U-M Flint campus can
continue to attend a comprehensive
university with all of the liberal arts,
fine arts and sciences that we’ve
traditionally had.”
Lederman said One University is
primarily concerned that students on
the Dearborn and Flint campuses will
lose opportunities that students on the
Ann Arbor campus will continue to
enjoy.
“We are concerned that we may
be heading towards a three-campus
system, in which wealthier students
on the Ann Arbor campus can major
in topics such as politics, biology or
philosophy and students on the Flint
and Dearborn campus are encouraged
to major only in the professional fields,”
Lederman said.
As for how to achieve One
University’s goals, Lederman said they
hope that Ono will be more inclined to
listen to their organization’s concerns.
“I think we would hope to have
someone who is more of a listener that
we could come to directly,” Lederman
said. “Of course there are going to be
competing interests that President
Ono and our campus leadership have
to grapple with. We understand that.
I think it was difficult to have those
conversations because we didn’t really
have a listener at the presidential level.”
Kirsten Herold, LEO president and
lecturer for the School of Public Health,
echoed similar hopes in that she would
like to see Ono dedicate necessary
attention to the U-M Flint and U-M
Dearborn campuses. Herold said U-M
Flint has already seen substantial
lecturer layoffs and very few full-time
staff members.
“We have maybe 250 or so lecturers
in Flint,” Herold said. “There’s already
been substantial layoffs in Flint … we
have very few full-time (lecturers at
U-M Flint), actually, most people are
part-time now.”
Stevens Wandmacher, lecturer at
U-M Flint and LEO member, reiterated
these concerns regarding students and
lecturers at the Dearborn and Flint
campuses.
“Ann Arbor is a huge campus and a
very complex organization, but there
are two other campuses that deserve
the attention of the president, and
I hope we get what we need in that
regard,” Wandmacher said.
Wandmacher spoke about U-M
Flint’s
campus
transformation
initiative and said he hopes that Ono
will make efforts to help U-M Flint
work toward this goal.
“On the Flint campus, we’re
undergoing a transformation initiative:
we’ve had declining enrollment for
a number of years, and we’re trying
to figure out how to deal with that,”
Wandmacher said. “I’m hoping that the
president will be a good partner to our
chancellor as we move forward.”
In terms of labor union work,
Jared Eno, Graduate Employees’
Organization (GEO) president, said
he is anticipating a new approach
from Ono’s administration for when
GEO’s contract negotiations start up
again later this year. GEO’s current
contract was ratified in April 2020,
just months before the union went
on strike to protest then-president
Mark Schlissel’s decision to reopen
the University amid the COVID-19
pandemic. The University filed a
lawsuit against GEO and its members,
ultimately leading the union to end
their strike.
“The bargaining of our new contract
offers a really great opportunity for
the University to solve some of these
problems that so many grad students
are facing,” Eno said. “I am really
excited about Ono bringing a new
approach to those negotiations, given
the hardline and oppositional stance
that we encountered under Schlissel
the last time we were trying to fight for
ourselves and solve the problems that
we’re facing.”
Eno said Ono’s presidency will
be an opportunity to hold open
conversations
about
the
issues
impacting graduate students at the
University,
particularly
regarding
affordability and the cost of living.
“Grad workers are really struggling
with a crisis of affordability, and that
comes not only from the pay that we
have … but also many of the additional
costs that the University places on grad
students,” Eno said. “Given that (Ono)
is so focused on the experience of folks
in the community, I imagine he’ll be
very concerned with addressing many
of these hidden costs.”
Herold shared similar sentiments
and said she was looking forward to
having a president who doesn’t see
campus labor unions as antithetical to
the administration’s interests.
“Previous administrations have
treated labor unions on campus as an
irritant, as an outside force, which is
wrong,” Herold said. “We’re hoping for
more dialogue (and) a more open and
receptive leadership style.”
While
excited,
Herold
also
expressed a degree of caution, and
said she hopes Ono can live up to the
expectations that have been laid out
for him.
“I was on the search committee,
so I’m excited,” Herold said. “I felt
good about the choice. I’m also slightly
nervous because we’re expecting a
lot of him … I’m really hoping that
he can address some of the damage
that has been done to the University’s
reputation.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Ono’s first day: Here’s how the campus community feels about Santa
coming to town
CAMPUS LIFE
Dr. Arline Geronimus receives James S. Jackson
Award for research in race, health
Students, faculty say they are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new UMich President
Inspired by her family roots, the Public Health professor reflects on
career, ‘weathering’ hypothesis
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Design by Sara Fang
RILEY HODDER & IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporters
Trotter hosts first
Kaleidoscope conversation on
environmental racism
Event highlights disproportionate impact on
minority racial, ethnic groups
NADIA TAECKENS &
EMMA SWANSON
Daily News Contributors
FATIMAH ALHAWARY
Daily News Contributor
ADMINISTRATION
NEWS
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 — 3