I am a proud feminist, supporting political, economic and social equality regardless of gender that has been absent for, really, all of time. I too wake up some mornings fighting the desire to throw on my pink pussy Women’s March hat, slap a new “Pro-Women, Pro-Life” frame on my Facebook profile picture, tweet “men are trash” and check “crush the patriarchy” off the “Feminist with a To-Do List” to-do list I bought for $10 at a feminist boutique before moving on with my life. 

As two long-serving lecturers at the University of Michigan, we understand the importance of building a legacy for generations of students to come. For the past 20 and 32 years, we’ve taken pride in working for a University that stands for what is right, that prioritizes its students over profits and that respects faculty and its obligation to honor contractual agreements with all employees. Over the past few months, however, the administration of the University’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance has shown a reckless disregard for all three. 

Sustainability has become an important topic on every level. There are large-scale patterns of pollution and damage to the Earth that will have lasting effects on generations to come unless adjustments are made. With these looming causes of climate change that are often created by powerful corporations or governmental policies, the sentiment that individuals have little power in what is happening to our planet can arise. I have heard people state that there first needs to be big systematic alterations to help the issue before they need to worry about their own carbon footprint.

It’s no surprise that the economy is booming. For more than 10 years, the market has been on a tear, and after overcoming the threat of recession in 2018, it does seem like we have a couple of years before the market takes its next major downturn. In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has already rallied to recover nearly all of its losses it incurred over last year’s turbulent slump.