The University of Michigan’s
Central Student Government held
their
annual
executive
debate
Sunday evening to give the campus
community an opportunity to hear
from the presidential and vice
presidential candidates for the 2023-
24 school year. Candidates were
able to describe their campaign
goals and the main issues they
plan to address if elected. Student
representatives from The Michigan
Daily and The Michigan Review
switched off asking the candidates
questions about three main topics:
administration, university affairs
and student organizations.
The
presidential
candidates
answered
questions
first.
This
year’s candidates are Engineering
senior Zaynab Elkolaly, LSA junior
Gabriel Ervin, Engineering junior
Maria Fields, Public Policy junior
Meera Herle and LSA freshman
Tony Liu.
Elolaly is running independently
and
she
is
an
Engineering
representative
on
the
CSG
assembly. Ervin is a member of
the
Independence
Union
and
an
LSA
Student
Government
representative. Fields is a member
of the Respect Party and an
Engineering representative on the
CSG assembly. Herle is a member of
the Forward Together Party and she
is serving as the CSG Chief of Staff.
Liu is running independently.
Several of the candidates spoke
about improving mental health
initiatives on campus and their
plans for distribution of CSG
funds, which they receive from the
University, to student organizations
and other campus programs.
Ervin discussed mental health in
relation to high Ann Arbor rental
costs.
“(Rent costs) have been out of
control completely and have been an
unbearable cost for many students
on campus,” Ervin said. “I believe
that the student government needs
to work with the administration to
address this problem. If the rent
goes down, people are less stressed.
People aren’t worried about where
they’re going to get their next meal
from or how they’re going to pay
for their textbooks. That takes a lot
of burdens off of people, and so we
need to work on that together right
now.”
Herle said she wants to increase
access to mental health care across
the University for students by
expanding
access
to
in-person
counseling. If elected, Herle said she
wants to work with administration
to add mental health options for
students
that
are
intentionally
inclusive of different communities
including students of various racial,
gender and sexual identities.
The University of Michigan
Graduate
Employees’
Organization announced in a
tweet March 27 that they will
begin striking. The strike will
officially
start
Wednesday,
March 29 at 10:24 AM, which
will be initiated by a walk out at
that time. This announcement
comes
after
GEO
members
authorized leadership to call
for a strike in their meeting
a week earlier, with 95% of
members voting in favor of a
work stoppage. The last GEO
strike took place three years
ago in fall 2020.
The
strike
comes
after
five months of negotiations
with the University without a
compromise reached on a new
three-year contract agreement.
In a press release, GEO claimed
that striking is the natural next
step in their ongoing activism,
including
protesting
Ono’s
inauguration and filing unfair
labor practice charges against
the University in March. In the
press release, GEO said they
hope it will help encourage
the University to meet their
demands.
Throughout
their
negotiations, GEO has asked
that graduate employee salaries
increase to $38,537 per year,
claiming that what they are
currently being paid is not a
liveable wage in Ann Arbor.
They
have
also
asked
for
improvements in their current
health care plan and for the
University to make alterations
to campus security.
In
response
to
GEO
members authorizing a strike,
University
President
Santa
Ono and University Provost
Laurie McCauley sent out a
joint email statement to the
campus
community
March
24. In the statement, Ono and
McCauley alleged that a strike
would not only be a breach of
GEO’s current contract with
the
University,
but
would
violate Michigan state law. Ono
and McCauley expressed the
University’s intent to take legal
action against GEO if necessary.
“The University will take
appropriate lawful actions to
enable the continued delivery
of our educational mission in
the event of a work disruption,”
the email said. “Those actions
will include asking a court
to find a breach of contract
and order strikers back to
work, stopping the deduction
of union dues, filing unfair
labor practice charges, and not
paying striking GSIs and GSSAs
for time they do not work.”
In a separate email sent out
to the campus community on
March 25, McCauley stated
that the University will take
measures
to
keep
campus
operations as normal as possible
and ensure that undergraduate
students will receive academic
support for the duration of the
strike. To do this, McCauley
said the University intends to
continue good faith bargaining
with GEO and working to
ensure that students receive
accurate final grades for their
Winter 2023 classes.
“Our
school,
college,
and
department
leaders
are
planning
for
substitute
instructors,
alternative
assignments, and other means
for delivering instruction in
the absence of graduate student
instructors,” McCauley wrote.
“Providing
a
high-quality
educational
experience
for
every student remains our top
priority.”
Rackham graduate student
Sovoya Davis, a member of
GEO, said the length of the
strike will be dependent on the
University’s response.
“The University of Michigan,
they are responsible for this
strike,” Davis said. “If they
are willing to take bargaining
seriously, and offer counter-
proposals that actually show
some movement, then I’m sure
that the Union will do all that
they can to be amenable to
that. You know, nobody wants
to strike, we care about our
students a lot, so it really just
depends on the University of
Michigan.”
The University of Michigan
Museum of Art unveiled three new
exhibits as part of their ongoing
“Curriculum / Collection” series:
“Predicting the Future,” “Strategic
Brand Management” and “U.S.
Citizenship: Race / Class / Gender.”
Each exhibit was developed in
collaboration with multiple U-M
faculty members for use in one of
their classes this semester.
David
Choberka,
Mellon
Foundation
curator
for
U-M
learning and programs, put together
all three exhibits in collaboration
with U-M faculty. Choberka has
been creating private galleries
for U-M class student visits since
UMMA established their U-M
learning program in 2012 to increase
student engagement. UMMA first
started publicly displaying the
class-specific exhibits in 2020 with
the creation of the “Curriculum /
Collection” series.
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Choberka said he
previously displayed works from
a collection in one of the UMMA’s
private study rooms for a class to
discuss before the “Curriculum /
Collection” series allowed works to
be displayed in the public gallery.
“One of the goals of ‘Curriculum
/ Collection’ was to turn those ways
we use the collection for University
learning into gallery experiences as
well,” Choberka said. “A lot of people
are very aware that it’s a University
museum, so it’s really cool for them
to come through and not experience
just any old museum anywhere, but
a museum that’s doing unique and
interesting things because of our
connection to learning on campus.”
“Predicting the Future”
The exhibit “Predicting the
Future” draws themes from the
course ALA 350, taught by LSA
lecturer
Cameron
Gibelyou.
The course has been taught in
collaboration with the UMMA and
Choberka for at least eight years. In
the exhibit, many of the artworks
are composed around a diagonal
line that extends from the lower left
to upper right of the image.
After giving ALA 350 students
a tour of the exhibit, Choberka
said the first activity he usually
asks students to do is to draw their
personal representation of progress
on a notecard. Notecards from
previous classes are displayed in the
gallery.
“Everybody
draws
some
variation on that same diagonal,”
Choberka said. “Every time the
students do it, it’s kind of mind-
blowing for them. … Whenever I ask
students, ‘Why do you think we all
draw the same line?’ they all talk
about stock market graphs. … It’s the
predominance of x-y graphing as a
fundamental way we imagine the
shape of progress.”
“U.S. Citizenship: Race / Class
/ Gender”
“U.S. Citizenship: Race / Class
/ Gender” interacts with several
courses, including ENGLISH 332,
AMCULT 103, AMCULT 300 and
ALA 270. Various works from the
UMMA’s collection are displayed
in the exhibit, all depicting symbols
like the American flag or the Statue
of Liberty. The exhibit also includes
a new acquisition, Sonya Clark’s
“Whitewashed,” which consists of
an American flag in shades of white
and cream painted directly on the
wall.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 108
©2023 The Michigan Daily
N E WS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
S T A T E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
GEO strikes against the University
The strike comes after weeks of unresolved contract negotiations
NEWS
ASTRID CODE
Daily Staff Reporter
JAMIE KIM
Daily Staff Reporter
UMMA adds three new exhibits
CAMPUS LIFE
CSG 2023 executive
candidates hold debate
CSG President and VP tickets discussed
campus issues in advance of elections
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
RILEY HODDER
Daily News Editor
Members of GEO protest on the Diag during the procession to Santa Ono’s inauguration ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
ANNA FUDER/Daily
UMich faculty members curated unique displays at the museum for their classes
Celebrating Professor Michael Haithcock
University of Michigan Symphony Band
Friday, March 31
Hill Auditorium // 8:00 PM
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
MARIA DECKMANN/Daily