The Presidential Search Committee is hosting a series of six listening sessions to solicit input on critical opportunities for the university and the qualities needed in a new president. While each session focuses on a particular constituency, anyone can attend any session that works with their schedule. The sessions run Feb. 16-23.
It’s one thing to visit a coffee shop and order a soy latte. It’s quite another to walk in and be asked about sexual violence.
That juxtaposition was exactly what U-M senior Sara Fess was hoping for when she launched a unique project at M-36 Coffee Roasters Café on South University Avenue, just off Central Campus. A volunteer with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, she had one question for customers — Imagine a world without sexual violence: What would be different?
Providing sticky notes and pens, Fess asked coffee lovers to record their answers and affix them to a “vision wall” in the cafe.
“It was meant to spark conversation. When you go in to get coffee, people aren’t expecting to think about sexual violence prevention on campus. It’s not something that always comes up,” Fess said. “When I put it in the coffee shop, I was hoping people would see it and think about it. Maybe you’d talk about it with the person next to you.”
She was overwhelmed by the written responses left on the wall:
“I could wear anything I feel like wearing”
“Could walk alone at night”
“People would feel safer”
“Less fear in the world”
Fess works part-time at the coffee shop, but even on days off, she made a point of stopping in to monitor the Post-its going up on the wall. She wanted to see that faculty, staff and, particularly, fellow students left notes.
“Every day when I went, I saw new ones, and I read them,” she said. “It meant a lot to me.”
The fall semester exhibit was part of Fess’ work participating in Hidden Voices. This national organization uses the power of storytelling and individual experiences to raise awareness about social issues and underrepresented communities, and sought a U-M student involved with SAPAC to be part of a leadership cohort of college students.
Of some 200 students who volunteer at SAPAC, Fess was the “unanimous choice” to be nominated for a 10-month leadership role with Hidden Voices, said Kelsey Cavanagh-Strong, program manager for student engagement.
She said Fess stood out because of her long involvement with SAPAC’s Survivor Empowerment and Ally Support Program. It is SAPAC’s most extensive volunteer program, with students like Fess trained to assist survivors of sexual violence and help them heal.
Fess was one of 17 students from 14 universities involved with Hidden Voices. Other universities included Duke, Georgetown, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, San Diego State, Texas and Virginia.
In another project with Hidden Voices, Fess helped lead a Zoom program that attracted people from several college campuses, including U-M, to read aloud accounts of sexual violence from survivors, allies, emergency room nurses, faculty and students. The readings were coupled with open discussions about raising awareness on campuses about sexual assault.
As with the Hidden Voices readings, all SAPAC programming has gone remote because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of Zoom and other virtual channels has had unintended and positive consequences for students dealing with sexual violence, said Cavanagh-Strong.
“It’s incredible to see what a virtual platform can do for students. In ways, it has helped individuals feel more comfortable,” Cavanagh-Strong said.
For example, SAPAC’s Annual Survivor Share and Speak Out took place on Zoom in December and attracted more than 100 student survivors and their allies. Survivors and their allies were more inclined to share their experiences on-screen and offer support through chat functions, she said.
“In the past, there have been many long moments of silence, whereas, in this last speakout, it didn’t feel that way,” she said. “There were a lot of students who wanted to share. The number of students who were in the event and unmuted themselves and said, ‘I wasn’t planning on sharing at all, but now I want to because of the amount of support I feel from the people here’ was pretty amazing to see.”
For Fess, whether working remotely on Zoom or hands-on with her coffee shop vision wall, volunteering with SAPAC has been a highlight of her time at U-M. As a sophomore on the Student Advisory Board for Counseling and Psychological Services she realized the mental health impact of sexual assault, leading her to attend a SAPAC information session.
“The work they do sounded amazing. Sexual assault is such a prevalent issue on college campuses. People don’t necessarily know the available resources. I didn’t know about SAPAC until I joined it,” said Fess, who continues to volunteer for CAPS.
“Being able to know about it and talk about it with other people to make sure they know about the resources — even if it’s something they wouldn’t ever use — has been a great experience for me.”
The leaders of Hidden Voices have already reached out to SAPAC for another U-M student to join their next leadership cohort and follow in Fess’ footsteps.
Fess, from San Diego, California, is studying political science and sociology and will graduate in April. She plans to take off a year before attending law school and, ideally, continuing to volunteer for a sexual assault prevention organization.
In the meantime, she is hanging on to the sticky notes from the coffee shop. “I’m keeping them forever,” she said.
This article originally appeared in January 31, 2022 edition of The University Record
The MLK Symposium begins at 10 a.m. EST on Monday, January 17. The stream will begin at 9:45 a.m. with a pre-show that will highlight the MLK Symposium over the years.
Ms. Maria de Lourdes Hinojosa Ojeda is a Mexican-American journalist. She is the anchor and executive producer of Latino USA on National Public Radio, a public radio show devoted to Latino issues. She is also the founder, president, and CEO of Futuro Media Group, which produces the show. In 2018 she was a Fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a frequent speaker across the country. In 2019, Ms. Hinojosa was named the inaugural Distinguished Journalist in Residence at her alma mater, Barnard College. With a career spanning 30 years, she has informed millions. Ms. Hinojosa has won numerous honors and awards for her work. Other recognition includes The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Reporting on the Disadvantaged, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Radio Award, the New York Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award from Overseas Press Club, and an Associated Press award. Ms. Hinojosa is the recipient of four Emmy Awards for her work for covering such topics as Taxing the Poor and The Plight of the Lower Class in Alabama. She was named among the top 25 Latinos in Contemporary American Culture. In addition to Ms. Hinojosa’s awards, she is the author of four books including her most recent book, “Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America.”
Dr. Rashad Richey is a university professor, lecturer, Emmy nominated broadcaster, and political/social analyst. Nationally, Dr. Richey is the television news anchor for ‘Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey’, which airs on multiple cable outlets with viewership averaging 1.3 million daily. Dr. Richey is routinely featured for his political analysis and commentary on MSNBC, BBC America, Black News Channel, Fox News, CNBC, CBS News, and other networks. Prior to becoming the President of Rolling Out Magazine in 2021, he served as Chief Editor-At-Large and Sr. Writer. Rolling Out is the largest free-print urban publication in America with 2.8 million readers monthly and a combined social media following of over 500,000.
Dr. Richey is also the host of the award-winning Rashad Richey Morning Show on News & Talk 1380-WAOK and Political Commentator for V-103 FM, the nations’ largest urban station. Dr. Richey is the first African-American talk radio personality to be voted “Best Talk Radio Host” by readers of Atlanta Magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Dr. Richey earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and Master of Business Administration from Beulah Heights University, Ph.D. from Scofield Graduate School, and completed his second doctoral degree at Clark Atlanta University with a research emphasis on federal policy and higher education access. Dr. Richey completed studies in Executive Leadership from Cornell University and currently matriculating at Birmingham School of Law finishing his Law Degree
Believing service is what connects humanity, Dr. Richey serves on the Board of Directors for Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, and Children’s Rights -a policy and legal advocacy organization dedicated to the rights of children, and was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award by President Barack Obama for his philanthropic endeavors.
Moderator
Dr. Patricia Coleman-Burns is a University of Michigan Assistant Professor Emerita of Nursing and affiliated faculty in the Department of Afro-American and African Studies. PCB began her career in the 70s studying Black & Black Women’s social movements. Appointed by former Dean of the UM School of Nursing Rhetaugh Dumas in 1991 as director of the Office of Minority Affairs; she immediately pioneered the trend to rename all such entities “Office of Multicultural Affairs”. Her scholarship focuses on intersecting identities across safe policing, social justice, health equity, social determinants of health, and health promotion and disease prevention. Her research and science center on community impact and access of citizens to evidence-based knowledge and skills. She conducts workshops on anti-racism and anti-Blackness narratives; “hidden unconscious and/or implicit biases”; microaggressions across intra-personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural domains; and “bystander (accomplices & co-conspirator) intervention”.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sponsored by the University of Michigan Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium; the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, a unit in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business with support from the William K. McInally Memorial Lecture Fund; and Institute for Humanities from the Jill S. Harris Memorial Lecture Fund.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://diversity.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/MLK-2022-Booklet-Final.pdf” title=”MLK Symposium Program 2022″]
The University of Michigan’s Title IX coordinator, Elizabeth Seney, will begin offering remote office hours to respond to questions or hear feedback on how the university responds to reports of sexual or gender-based misconduct.
The twice-monthly sessions will begin Jan. 18, and each session will run for 90 minutes, starting at 1 p.m.
Faculty, staff and students may schedule time by logging in with their U-M credentials and selecting a time slot. The Title IX coordinator is part of the university’s Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office.
“We want to make our office — and this position specifically — as accessible as possible to all members of the university community,” said Tamiko Strickman, executive director of ECRT.
As Title IX coordinator, Seney is responsible for the university’s compliance with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
More broadly, she also handles matters relating to sexual and gender-based misconduct and discrimination, and serves as sexual and gender-based misconduct director of ECRT. Much of her time is focused on misconduct prevention efforts and overseeing responses to complaints, including investigations.
“I believe adding remote office hours is another way for me and my colleagues to engage our community, answer any questions individuals may have and live up to our commitment to making our community safer for everyone,” Seney said.
This article originally appeared in the January 12, 2022 edition of The University Record