End the Cycle, a student
organization at the University
of Michigan working toward
improving equity in Michigan
schools,
raised
over
$5,000
during the winter semester to
completely pay off student lunch
debt at Carpenter and Allen
Elementary
Schools
in
Ann
Arbor.
End the Cycle was founded at
the University in 2020 to address
inequality in Ann Arbor schools,
with the city being one of the
most economically segregated
in the nation. The organization
provides virtual supplemental
tutoring services to elementary
students and organizes various
committee projects.
LSA senior Rija Awan is the
co-founder and current president
of End the Cycle. In an interview
with
The
Michigan
Daily,
Awan said the organization was
originally founded to address
the impact of homelessness on
students, though they have since
expanded to helping underserved
students from a greater variety of
backgrounds.
“The original goal was to bridge
the gap in educational disparity
for students facing homelessness
in Ann Arbor,” Awan said. “We’ve
expanded to online tutoring
for underserved students and
then these committee projects …
It’s a very community-engaged
organization.”
End The Cycle has a committee
centered around food insecurity,
which
is
chaired
by
LSA
sophomore Elizabeth White and
led by LSA junior Zubaida Azeeza.
In an interview with The Daily,
Azeeza said they saw providing
funds for school lunches as a step
toward
achieving
educational
equity within the district.
“We saw a TikTok, actually,
about other schools paying off
lunch debts and we thought
that would be a great idea,”
Azeeza said. “We know that food
insecurity
goes
hand-in-hand
with educational instability, and
by making sure that a student has
food, they’re less likely to drop
out.”
Azeeza
said
she
believes
lunch debt can not only affect
the students who cannot afford
lunch, but can also lower the
quality of educational resources
at these schools if the school
district has to cut into its budget
to cover the accumulated debt.
“Students who aren’t part
of the free and reduced lunch
program can accumulate debt
and the debt still has to be paid,”
Azeeza said. “The school has
to address it in some way, and
that can cut into educational
resources.
The Michigan Daily sat down with
Martino Harmon, vice president
for Student Life, to discuss student
activism
following
international
crises, how to find community at
the University of Michigan with
increasing
enrollment
numbers,
the ongoing Graduate Employees’
Organization strike, sustainability
initiatives and Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion 2.0.
This interview has been edited and
condensed for clarity.
Campus
activism
and
experiences
The
Michigan
Daily:
How
has Student Life responded to
international crises, such as the
war in Ukraine and the earthquake
in Turkey, that are important to
the U-M campus community this
semester?
Martino Harmon: So many
tragedies happen in the world and
in our country, so it’s good when the
University community — students,
faculty and staff who are concerned
about these issues and how they
impact members of our community
— can come together. Specifically
within Student Life, the Dean of
Students Office serves as the point
unit for support. They regularly run
a list of students who may be from an
affected area, and then they conduct
specific outreach to those students.
Outreach usually comes in the form
of sensitivity toward what happened
and how that event may have
affected students, and then pointing
them towards support that could
be in the form of Counseling and
Psychological Services, Wolverine
Wellness or other more specific
services.
TMD:
With
the
Graduate
Employees’ Organization currently
on strike, how do you balance your
commitment to the student body
with your responsibilities to U-M
administration during times of
tension as the VP of student life?
MH: For myself and all members
of the administration, our primary
concern is for the success of all of our
students. We want students to have
a positive experience, even through
this difficult and challenging time.
It’s difficult because the GEO strike
is a labor negotiation that involves
students, but it’s important for us
to make sure that we can continue
operations as much as possible,
although this is very disruptive.
We
want
to
make
sure
our
undergraduate students receive the
services through Student Life and
that Academic Affairs is focused on
continuing the classroom experience
and the academic experience. Our
position is that the best way to
resolve this issue is at the bargaining
table — that’s where the issues have
to be resolved. Student Life’s role
is not to be at the bargaining table,
but our role is to support all of our
students.
TMD: As the University continues
to accept more freshmen and build
more housing to accommodate
students, how does Student Life plan
to make all students feel involved in
a large and growing community?
MH: The really beautiful part
about the University of Michigan is
we are a large and comprehensive
institution and students have a lot
of different opportunities to make
connections and to get involved —
there are really no limits to what
students can experience. But we
also work very diligently to make
the community feel smaller, to help
students make those connections
during the welcome period. It’s
really several weeks of different
activities like Festifall, the UMix
events in the Michigan Union or
events that may be held by student
organizations that we host through
our Center for Campus Involvement
that make a difference. In reference
to housing, we actually are planning
to build more housing, not just
because of the growth of the first-
year class of students, but to have
more beds for students who want
to continue to live with us beyond
their first year. Research shows that
living on campus, whether it’s your
first year or even your second year,
is very beneficial to students making
connections, to overall student
development and just to student
support in general.
Student health and safety
TMD: How is Student Life
accommodating
students
who
feel unsafe on campus and how
do you believe the University can
prioritize the health and safety
of these students following the
tragic shooting at Michigan State
University?
MH: The shooting at MSU
is really such a tragic situation
that really touched many people
in the community on a personal
level. We’ve had too many of these
incidents of mass shootings across
the country, but this one was really
close to home. In Student Life, our
first reaction was to find ways to
communicate to students that we
were certainly there for them in
terms of support — whether it be
through CAPS, Wolverine Wellness
or all of our departments — in
formal ways, but also in informal
ways. Also, we launched a series
of communications that went to
students, and also communications
to parents and family members, to let
them know that support is available.
We included links to the Division of
Public Safety and Security and some
of the measures that they were taking
to keep the campus safe because
people need to feel supportive, but
they also need to feel safe. We also
launched a teletherapy program,
which we piloted in the fall — it’s
called Uwill. This program provides
counseling services through virtual
services from counselors across the
country, which provides an option
for students in addition to CAPS
counseling and Wolverine Wellness.
Sustainability and DEI
TMD: In light of the University
recently meeting two of its 2025
sustainability goals, how is the
University planning to adapt their
goals to keep pushing forward?
MH: Moving forward, the new
dorm on Elbel field will have a dining
center
that
uses
GeoExchange
heating and cooling, and also all
electric cooking equipment. Within
the building, we’re planning for a lot
of solar installations as well. Student
Life has taken a more formal role in
supporting Student Sustainability
Coalition, through providing staff
support and also budgetary support.
I’ve been able to go to a few of their
events — I went to the Farm Stand
and also Harvest Fest, and also their
leadership
summit.
Supporting
that organization is really critical
because it’s tied to our mission of
directly supporting students. We
also work closely with Graham
Sustainability Institute as well as
the Office of Campus Sustainability.
We’re not just sort of off on our own;
we’re partnering with other units
within the University to reach our
sustainability goals.
On an intricately-patterned mat
in the School of Public Health at the
University of Michigan lay dozens of
instruments: Tibetan singing bowls,
gongs and chimes, as well as hammers
of all shapes and sizes. As eight U-M
students laid down in Shavasana — a
resting yoga pose — practitioners
Julie Kouyate and Roberta Maxwell
from Sacred Sound Journey aimed
to send the entire room into another
world.
The experience was a sound
bath — a meditative experience
where participants are surrounded,
or ‘bathed’ in, sound waves. The
event was a part of a healing circle
experience hosted by Roe v. Rape
Friday evening for sexual assault
survivors on campus. Aside from the
sound bath, women’s rights activist
Jan BenDor and Washtenaw County
Treasurer Catherine McClary were
invited to talk about the history of
Michigan state legislature concerning
sexual violence.
Andrew Panter, co-president of Roe
v. Rape, said the organization decided
to host the healing circle in addition to
their usual forms of activism, such as
rallies, to help survivors on campus in
a more personal way.
“It really fits into our mission of
helping support survivors on campus,”
Panter said. “This is one of the most
direct ways we can do it. Typically we
do activism and advocacy, but this is a
way to be more inward.”
In the 1970s, BenDor and McClary
founded the Women’s Crisis Center
in Ann Arbor, a nonprofit counseling
service that used to provide telephone
support
to
women
who
were
experiencing sexual violence. Though
the center closed in 1990, it was one
of the first groups to collect data
and conduct research about sexual
violence in the country.
“We set up a hotline and we started
responding to calls,” BenDor said. “At
the same time we went all over the
(University of Michigan) campus and
tacked up a survey to find out who had
been a victim and asked them because
we were doing research (and) at that
time there was no data.”
Today, there are 1,580 crisis centers
around the country for sexual assault
victims. According to the National
Institute of Justice, the rape reporting
increased from 1992 to 2000 and more
survivors, rather than third parties,
are doing the reporting now.
Through hearing from survivors
and pioneering research in this
field, BenDor and McClary aimed to
change the narrative that rape is just
about sex. They said they sought to
show the public that rape is a matter
of power and control.
“Everybody blamed the woman
and everybody assumed that rape
and sexual assault was just a matter
of sex,” BenDor said. “It wasn’t until
we started working on (the research),
that we finally got across the point
that sexual assault is about power and
is about control. And it has next to
nothing to do with anything you want
to refer to as sex or sexual needs.”
BenDor and McClary said they also
brought law students from around the
state together with Michgian state
legislators to draft major legal reform
that expanded the definition of a
sexual assault victim. It was signed
into law by then-Michigan governor
William Milliken in August 1974.
“We made a major structural
change in the whole area of law; it
wasn’t just rape in the traditional
sense,” BenDor said. “We just covered
every form of sexual assault in this
law. We also covered every possible
victim, male or female. Amazingly, it
passed in four months from the time
we introduced it.”
Andrew Yang, a Public Health
graduate student, said he believes that
BenDor and McClary’s efforts are
significant because it can be difficult
for sexual violence survivors to heal
from their trauma. He also said he
believes sexual violence is a problem
that needs to addressed on a legal
level.
“(Sexual violence) is an external
thing that affected them, so it has to
be treated externally too,” Yang said.
Kouyate said survivors of trauma
often suffer from feeling like they are
not in control and may experience
feelings of insecurity.
“A lot of times when we have a
traumatic experience what happens
is, we don’t feel safe in our bodies
and we feel like we’re guarding our
experiences,” Kouyate said. “So, you
don’t even feel like you have control
over it. You’ll find the dangers:
anything that smells similar to
something that was unsafe, any colors
that are associated with something
that was unsafe.”
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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 110
©2023 The Michigan Daily
N E WS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
S T A T E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
VP of Student Life talks enrollment, GEO strike
The Daily sat down with Martino Harmon for the end of the winter semester
Survivors came together with activists to heal and call for change
A UMich student organization
raised $5,000 to pay off
lunch debt at two Ann Arbor
elementary schools
JOEY LIN
Daily News Editor
MADISON HAMMOND
Daily Staff Reporter
Roe v. Rape hosts student healing circle
UMich students help pay
off lunch debt at Ann
Arbor schools
RACHEL MINTZ,
MADISON HAMMOND
& NATALIE ANDERSON
Daily News Editor & Daily Staff
Reporters
The Michigan Daily sat down with Dr. Martino Harmon on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at the Fleming Administration Building to discuss the state of student affairs.
GRACE BEAL/Daily
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
EMMA MATI/Daily
Julie Kouyate, a group healing circle facilitator, facilitates a healing circle for students at the School of Public Health Friday evening.
CAMPUS LIFE
ANN ARBOR
CAMPUS LIFE
Read more at MichiganDaily.com