About 100 University of Michigan students gathered at the Betty Ford Classroom of the Ford School of Public Policy for the second annual Progressive Policy Summit Wednesday evening. The event was organized by the Michigan Institute for Progressive Policy, a U-M student organization that researches, writes and advocates for progressive policies. The summit gives a platform to the work done by MIPP and offered a chance for policy-aligned student organizations to collaborate.
Ten Ann Arbor organizations were featured at the summit, including Ann Arbor for Public Power, Environmental Consulting Organization at the University of Michigan and Food Recovery Network. During the event, organizations presented issues affecting the state of Michigan, including housing, food insecurity and health insurance, among others.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Public Policy junior Isha Khan, co-president of MIPP, said the summit’s purpose was to amplify the collective voice of the movement of a diverse group of campus organizations.
“I think organizations on campus are very segmented and often progressive spaces can feel very lonely sometimes,” Khan said. “So this is a way for everybody to recognize there is a lot of power in the progressive movement on campus and know what’s going on.”
Public Policy junior Om Shah represented the FRN at the event. Shah said FRN aims to bridge the gap between food waste and food insecurity.
“We take leftover food at the University of Michigan dining halls, catering events and really anywhere we can get food from, and (make) sure to actually transport it to a food bank or pantry to make sure that a transportation link is not the reason that we’re wasting so much food and letting more people go hungry,” Shah said.
Maize & Blue Cupboard is an on-campus resource aiming to address food insecurity among U-M students. Shah said he hoped the summit would increase awareness about the MBC. .
“We have this resource on campus, which is basically providing free food for students,” Shah said. “There’s always enough for people and (how) their funding system actually works is the more people that go there, the more money they get from the University and the more food they’re able to purchase. The biggest obstacle is not getting enough food, but actually just getting people to show up.”
Zackariah Farah, member of the Ann Arbor Tenants Union, presented at the summit on behalf of the AATU. He highlighted the organization’s history in Ann Arbor, despite being dormant over the past two decades.
“The Ann Arbor Tenants Union isn’t actually a new institution,” Farah said. “It was founded in 1968 in response to the very big problem — again, high prices, low quality. Ninety percent of the rental units back then did not meet code.”
Farah said the AATU is determined to spearhead the movement for housing reform in Ann Arbor.
“We want to build this movement because we simply cannot afford to keep the status quo going,” Farah said. “As we’ve said many times, the rent is too damn high and it’s not going to change unless we fight.”
Andy Levin, former representative for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District, delivered the keynote address for the summit. He encouraged students to pursue policy change on a global scale.
“And the basic message that I have for you, is that you can do it,” Levin said. “You can change the world on issues that you care about. And that’s the only way any change ever happened in the world. … There’s tremendous power in civil disobedience. And I encourage you all to consider it for your movements.”
Daily Staff Reporter Yu-Hsin Chen can be reached at yuhsin@umich.edu.