As we approach the end of the semester, it’s time for your 2023-2024 School Year Wrapped. It has certainly been a year unlike any other. The University of Michigan saw impressive highs and disappointing lows. These included wins on the football field, research breakthroughs and the expansion of Michigan Medicine. But they also meant an increasingly tense relationship between the student body and the administration, a campus divided over world events and a series of other University failures. The Michigan Daily Editorial Board has split each of the major events and trends of the fall and winter semesters into three distinct categories with the aim of summing up the student experience over the past nine months.
Impressive highs
The University had a great year in athletics. The hockey team advanced to the Frozen Four, and the football team took home the national championship title for the first time in 20 years. The U-M community celebrated the victory with students crowding onto South University Avenue to blast music and shout chants. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer even declared Jan. 9 “Michigan Wolverine Day.” Wins like these enhance the University’s prestigious image and foster a sense of pride among students, alumni and fans.
Beyond sports, the University enjoyed a multitude of academic successes. The 2024 fall term saw a record number of applicants, totaling to more than 105,000 people. The high demand for a U-M education demonstrates the University’s continued standing as top choice for students across the country. With consistently high rankings in national education evaluations, the University is still a model of intellectual achievement and innovation.
An R1 institution, the University placed among the top 10 universities for National Institute of Health funding and received a $71 million grant to advance clinical research. U-M researchers have achieved a number of breakthroughs, even producing new findings on a chemical that could potentially cure HIV. Michigan Medicine’s acquisition of Sparrow Health System, located in Central Michigan, further highlights the University’s commitment to health care and community welfare. These additions not only expand high-quality medical treatment to new locations but also reinforce the University’s role in serving Ann Arbor.
U-M administration doesn’t run a tight ship
University President Santa Ono came to campus a popular man, reviving Wolverines’ faith in administration after it was tarnished by former University President Mark Schlissel’s scandalous tenure. Ono quickly ran into obstacles, however, diminishing students’ image of him. Less than a month after his inauguration, the Graduate Employees’ Organization went on strike with the hopes of achieving higher pay and better work conditions. The contract negotiations lasted for five months, resulting in delayed grades and disrupted classes. The final deal was not agreed upon until late August.
Ono could hardly take a breath, with two new crises arising at the very beginning of the 2023 fall semester. An online security breach forced the University to shut down the internet during the first week of classes. Moreover, a lack of student housing forced the University to convert dorm lounges into living spaces, revealing a negative consequence of rising enrollment. Evidently, Ono and the administration aren’t running a tight ship. They’re highly concerned with preserving the University’s aforementioned image but less so with enhancing the experience of the student body.
In addition to missteps with students, the administration hasn’t done a good job communicating with or catering to U-M faculty and staff. The Lecturers’ Employee Organization shares many of GEO’s complaints with the University — primarily low wages — and have authorized a strike as of April 23, raising the specter of another work stoppage at a critical moment in the semester. A pattern of mistreatment from administration is coming into focus. In addition to action from the lecturers, residential advisors have been discussing unionization for months, and their goal is now coming to fruition.
Free speech failures
The war in Gaza has caused growing division and dissent at the University. Student activism now occurs almost daily, with several pro-Israel rallies over the past two semesters and many more pro-Palestine protests. The tension on campus led Ono and the Board of Regents to adopt new Principles on Diversity of Thought and Freedom of Expression in January. This Editorial Board criticized the document for its vagueness and numerous possible interpretations.
Demonstrations grew harder to ignore in the subsequent months, and after a highly controversial protest at the 101st annual Honors Convocation, the University clamped down with a highly controversial move of its own: the draft Disruptive Activity Policy. Ono assured students in an email that the DAP indicates “no changes to (the University’s) long-standing policies,” but its lack of clarity is reason for concern.
The troubling language — such as the warning that “no Person without legal authority may prevent or impede the free flow of persons about campus, whether indoors or outdoors, including any pedestrian, bicycle, or vehicular traffic” — leaves too much up to the University’s discretion. We questioned in an editorial if peaceful protests of the past could occur under such parameters. A vigil on the Diag, for example, technically impedes students on their way to class, despite being harmless in nature. Past University failures on freedom of expression, such as the disallowing of any future Central Student Government initiatives relating to Israel and Palestine, raises concerns that it may not act in good faith.
With a pressure cooker building on campus and a growing sentiment among students that change is impossible through traditional means, candidates from the SHUT IT DOWN party won the executive branch of CSG with the aim of halting the body’s activity, including student organization funding, until the University divests from companies making money from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. It is yet to be seen how the administration will react to such a move.
The lesson of the last nine months is that students are among the University’s least important constituencies. Big donors, parents and the Michigan voters who elect the Board of Regents are the ones with real sway. By no means should the University ignore these groups, but going forward, it must recognize its obligation to serve the people whom its policies affect most — students.
Conclusions
Despite the growing lack of faith in the administration, as well as the increased tension and division on campus, the University has not strayed irreversibly off the right track. Although the situation might feel disheartening to students, issues over freedom of speech are being disputed all across the country. The University is also not responsible for the root causes of these protests; that designation can only be applied to unpredictable world events. The administration is, however, responsible for how it responds to them. Still, the factors that make Michigan a great school endure. We have the opportunity to take engaging classes from outstanding and accomplished professors and graduate students. We get to live and work in one of the best college towns in America. We experience some of the finest college athletics in the country, including a football team that just won the national championship. Yes, this year has had its ups and downs. But we can venture into the future confident that the core of our university remains intact, and while action from the administration is necessary, it’s still good to be a Wolverine.
This editorial represents the opinion of The Michigan Daily’s Editorial Board. If you are interested in submitting an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor, please send your submission to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.