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 

