By Katrenia Busch
UNIVERSITY CENTER – Michael Gavin joined other Michigan college and university presidents during a virtual roundtable to talk about reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The meeting focused on Dobbs’s decision regarding contraception on sexual assault survivors and the effects it had on college campuses.
“Thus far, I have worked with a number of external groups to ensure that our students would have support should the Michigan court/election also overturn the access to abortion rights,” Gavin said. “However, in the meantime, I have been quite cognizant that new policies, coupled with rhetoric that disparages groups of people, has become normalized in the recent past.”
Gavin shared that these policies and rhetoric impact students and faculty and can cause stress, fear, anxiety, and more.
“We have had a variety of approaches to wellness in the past year, including my own stress of the need to give each other time and space to sit in these feelings and acknowledge them,” Gavin said. “As of Thursday, Sept. 8, it appears the right to abortion and bodily autonomy will be on the ballot in November, and if that vote is in favor, Michigan citizens will continue to have the right.”
The Michigan Supreme Court declared on Sept. 8 that voters would determine whether or not to place abortion rights in the Michigan constitution. Promote the Vote submitted signatures to put the proposed constitutional amendment before voters which the court agreed to.
The Board of State Canvassers voted to place the initiative on the Nov. 8 general election ballot following the state Supreme Court’s decision. The initiative is now known as Proposal 2.
“I am glad that happened,” Gavin said. “If the Supreme Court requires states to have their own laws, I am glad that the issue was allowed on the ballot as part of the democratic process.”
Gavin states that higher education, citizenship, democracy, and rights intersect.
Gavin expressed that he wants Delta College to continue developing a culture of belonging for our employees and students. Ensuring that non-binary bathrooms are present on campus is just the beginning of the positive changes to come. Embracing new definitions of Belonging, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion means understanding the data differently than in the past.
The president also shared that this has driven new structures and thinking on campus, noting that Delta’s students and employees are human beings.
Delta College welcomes Attorney General Dana Nessel on Sept. 27 for the “Post Roe v. Wade: Implications for the Supreme Court Decision in Michigan,” deliberative dialogue.
“For everyone to belong, we have to recognize they bring their experiences on campus and our campus – like other colleges–need to embrace the humanity of all of us,” Gavin said. “Delta College will be a national leader in this effort, and the reproductive rights of women is one of many policies, and efforts Delta will lead the way in accordingly.”
