Midwest
Black students dismiss University of Michigan’s DEI programs as ‘well-meaning failure’: Report
Black students at the University of Michigan (UM) told The New York Times Magazine that the institution’s plethora of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are a failure.
“D.E.I. at Michigan is rooted in a struggle for racial integration that began more than a half-century ago, but many Black students today regard the school’s expansive program as a well-meaning failure,” NYT Magazine columnist Nicholas Confessore wrote.
Confessore added that the university serves a larger population of Hispanic, Asian and first-generation students, and a “more racially diverse staff.” He added that while Blacks make up 14 percent of Michigan’s population, only 5 percent of students at UM are Black.
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One student called UM’s diversity efforts “superficial” and, despite the institution’s programs, they betrayed “a general discomfort with naming Blackness explicitly.”
Princess-J’Maria Mboup, the speaker of the university’s Black Student Union, told Confessore that “the students that are most affected by D.E.I. — meaning marginalized communities — are invested in the work, but not in D.E.I. itself.”
Furthermore, Confessore added that Mboup’s “discontent” reflected a tension he found “threaded throughout DEI” at UM. More precisely, he found a “pervasive uncertainty around whom—and what—DEI is really for.”
After meeting with students with a “wide range of backgrounds and perspectives,” Confessore wrote that “not one expressed any particular enthusiasm for Michigan’s D.E.I. initiative.”
“Where some found it shallow, others found it stifling. They rolled their eyes at the profusion of course offerings that revolve around identity and oppression, the D.E.I.-themed emails they frequently received but rarely read,” he added.
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He explained further that UM’s “own data” suggests that in its pursuit of diversity and equity, the academic institution has become less inclusive via a survey in 2022 showing “students and faculty members reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging.”
Confessore went on to write, “Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics — the exact kind of engagement D.E.I. programs, in theory, are meant to foster.”
Another criticism of UM’s DEI efforts came from a member of the university’s Board of Regents: Mark Bernstein, a lawyer and a Democrat.
Berstein told Confessore, “D.E.I. here is absolutely well-intentioned, extremely thoughtful in its conception and design.”
He added, “But it’s so virtuous that it’s escaped accountability in a lot of ways.”
“Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements, professors and students told me, were now cast as crises of inclusion and harm, each demanding some further administrative intervention or expansion,” Confessore wrote.
“On a campus consumed with institutional self-criticism, seemingly the only thing to avoid a true reckoning was D.E.I. itself.”
The University of Michigan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Detroit, MI
Detroit-area school bus driver charged in crash that killed 3-year-old girl
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A Michigan school bus driver has been charged for allegedly fatally striking a 3-year-old girl in Hamtramck.
Marvin Lee Flentroy, 64, of Pontiac, is charged with reckless driving causing death, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Flentroy was arraigned on Oct. 10 and received a $10,000 personal bond. He is ordered not to drive.
Prosecutors say on July 16, Flentroy was at the intersection of Burger and MacKay streets when he struck the child as he was turning on Burger Street. The child crossing the street when she was hit.
She was taken to the hospital where she died from her injuries.
A preliminary examination is scheduled for Oct. 31.
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee pursuit and fatal crash; driver sentenced to prison
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man convicted of reckless homicide in the death of two people following a police pursuit and crash was sentenced to prison on Thursday, Oct. 17.
24-year-old Papa Diallo was sentenced to 50 years in prison, and 20 years of extended supervision, for the chase and crash that happened near 27th and St. Paul on April 23, 2024.
In August, Diallo pleaded guilty to two counts of 1st-Degree Reckless Homicide.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and 10 years extended supervision for each count, which will be served consecutively. He has credit for 177 days time served.
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As part of a plea agreement, the following charges were dismissed, but read in:
- 2 Counts: Operater Fleeing/Eluding an Officer, Resulting in the Death of Another
- 2 Counts: Felony Bail Jumping
- 1 Count: 1st-Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety
Case details
Diallo was out of jail on a $500 signature bond from Waukesha County in a bail jumping case, after he was pulled over for running a red light.
Late Tuesday night, April 23, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy tried to pull Diallo over.
Instead, Diallo took off and ran a red light at 27th and St. Paul, hitting two vehicles.
Significant damage to one of the vehicles
In one of them was a 69-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman. Both died. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office identified them as John S. Zablocki and Barbara Zablocki.
“The driver of the second vehicle that was struck, who was the sole occupant, was reportedly uninjured,” said Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball.
“He just slammed into me and then airbags went off and all the smoke and all the other type of junk came off,” said Drew Jefferson, who survived the crash.
Fatal crash at 27th and St. Paul, Milwaukee
The sheriff’s office said Diallo was revived at the scene. A gun and drugs were found, and he shouldn’t have been driving.
Last September, Waukesha County deputies used a drone’s thermal camera to find him hiding in a backyard following a chase and crash.
Diallo was charged in that case, including carrying a concealed weapon and drug charges. He posted a $3,000 bond in that case.
In January 2024, court documents say he ran a red light near 27th and Juneau in Milwaukee. Police say they found a gun magazine and he had a revoked driver’s license.
Minneapolis, MN
After four years, Minneapolis to remove razor wire around Third Precinct building
Minneapolis city officials say razor wire, concrete barriers and fencing will be removed from around the former Third Precinct police station – which was set ablaze by protesters after George Floyd’s police killing – in the next three weeks. The burned-out vestibule will be removed within three months, with construction fencing to be erected closer to the building at 3000 Minnehaha Av.
This week, Minneapolis City Council members have expressed frustration that four years after the protests culminated in a fire at the police station, the charred building still stands and has become a “prop” some conservatives use to rail against city leadership. Most recently, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a stop outside the building and criticized Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the 2020 riots.
On Thursday, the council voted 8-3 to approve a resolution calling for “immediate cleanup, remediation, and beautification of the 3000 Minnehaha site including but not limited to the removal of fencing, jersey barriers, barbed wire, and all other exterior blight.”
Council Member Robin Wonsley said the city needs to acknowledge that many police officers stationed in the Third Precinct “waged racist and violent actions” against residents for decades.
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said the council wants the building cleaned up and beautified “immediately.”
“We cannot allow for this corner to be a backdrop for those who wish to manipulate the trauma of our city for political gain,” Chowdhury said.
Council Member Katie Cashman said the council shouldn’t be divided by “right-wing figures posing in front of the Third Precinct and pandering to conservative interests.”
“It’s really important for us to stay united in our goal, to achieve rehabilitation of this site in a way that advances racial healing and acknowledgement of the past trauma in this community, and to not let those figures divide us here,” she said.
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