[ad_1]
University of Michigan faculty and staff published an open letter Sept. 2 responding to an Aug. 31 statement from the Office of the President titled “Upholding our values and our policies.” The letter is a response to the University’s policy revisions in the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities July 18, as well as the on-campus arrests of four pro-Palestine protesters Aug. 28.
A separate letter from the Faculty Senate, which is included in the open letter, outlines the University’s policy changes. These changes include allowing the University to act as the complainant when filing complaints against a student. Previously, complaints could only be made by individual students, faculty and staff. Additionally, appeals to complaints are now reviewed exclusively by Martino Harmon, vice president for student life, as opposed to an appeals board composed of a U-M student, faculty member and administrative staff member. The University also adopted a new policy regarding facility use, which prevents students from disrupting University activities.
“In revising the SSRR, the Regents ignored their own guidelines, which stipulate that all changes to the SSRR must be reviewed by the Student Relations Advisory Committee, a faculty committee,” the open letter read. “This is a grave violation of norms of shared governance.”
The open letter also discussed four arrests made during a pro-Palestine “die-in” demonstration on the Diag, claiming the University mistreated those arrested.
“It is wrong for the university leadership to rely on technicalities and innuendo in order to silence its own students and discredit their peaceful protest and freedom of expression,” the open letter read. “Not filling out a form to reserve a space should not result in hospitalization, arrest, intimidation, and slander of students or community members. In any other context, we treat alumni, family members of faculty/staff, and a student working between semesters as part of our community.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, economics professor Basit Zafar said he co-wrote the open letter alongside Charlotte Karem Albrecht, an associate professor of American Culture, and a third writer, who preferred to remain anonymous. Zafar said he and his co-writers were motivated to write the letter following the arrests made on Aug. 28.
“All the changes the administration did without consulting with faculty or SACUA, which I think many faculty on campus would agree is an abuse of the shared governance principles, (and) had already been happening for some time on this campus,” Zafar said. “But I think for us, the turning point was what happened on the 28th and the narrative that the university was trying to spin around.”
Zafar said the letter concerns issues that affect everyone, regardless of their views on the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
“This should not be about politics,” Zafar said. “People might have different views about what’s happening in the Middle East, and that’s totally fine. What’s happening on campus, regardless of our politics, should be alarming to everyone — the overreach of central administration, the suppression of student rights, of community rights. These are extremely concerning issues in higher education, but especially at an institution like Michigan, which has a rich history and tradition of free speech and student activism, things like that happening are very disturbing.”
In an interview with The Daily, Social Work student Zachary Burton said he signed the letter because he believes that previous attempts to have a community conversation about the violence in Gaza have been ignored.
“Everyone who has been saying, ‘Hey, we have a problem (with) the violence that’s been happening in Gaza right now,’ anyone who’s tried to talk with the University, talk to the president, talk to the Regents, has just been completely left out of any conversation,” Burton said. “No attempt at a conversation or a community discussion has been made, and it feels like this conversation wasn’t taken seriously and in a very one-sided way. This letter is us saying that we want some empathy in this process. We want our voices to be heard.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Kyhana Austin said she signed the letter because she felt the University abused its power by allowing itself to file complaints against students.
“If (U-M administrators) are made aware of certain things that they consider violations, they are able to file a complaint as an individual, which I think is a breach of power,” Austin said. “It should be an individual’s responsibility and discretion to be able to file a complaint or make someone aware of violations to the (Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities).”
Austin said the letter appeals to those who view student rights and social justice as important.
“The fact that (the letter is) highlighting that the University itself is taking the rights that we had as students and giving the University more power over us, it feels violating,” Austin said. “Our students are so focused on student rights, civil rights, social justice. That’s a very large energy we bring to campus. I think that sense of justice definitely applies to people wanting to sign this letter because we feel that it’s a violation of our rights.”
Daily Staff Reporter Thomas Gala-Garza can be reached at tmgala@umich.edu.
Related articles
[ad_2]
Source link
