2023-03-29 by The Michigan Daily

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

GEO strikes against the University

NEWS

The strike comes after weeks of unresolved contract negotiations RILEY HODDER Daily News Editor

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

ANNA FUDER/Daily Members of GEO protest on the Diag during the procession to Santa Ono’s inauguration ceremony Tuesday afternoon.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

CSG 2023 executive candidates hold debate

CSG President and VP tickets discussed campus issues in advance of elections JAMIE KIM

Daily Staff Reporter

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 202324 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.

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

CAMPUS LIFE

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.”

UMMA adds three new exhibits

UMich faculty members curated unique displays at the museum for their classes ASTRID CODE

Daily Staff Reporter

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.