Michigan Campus Activism Guide Published

Although it has been a while since I’ve written about the University of Michigan, I thought I would note the publication of a book by my friend and U-M senior Mollie Bates. An Art and Design senior, in collaboration with the progressive paper the Michigan Independent, Mollie has designed and produced an 80-page, full color book on progressive campus activism at the university titled The Michigan Independent’s Guide to Campus Activism. The book features detailed descriptions of activism from 2003 to 2007 (Students Supporting Affirmative Action, The College Democrats, Voice Your Vote and The Coke Coalition), historical information dating back to the 1960s, and a how-to guide for future activists. I had the opportunity to peruse a copy this summer and was duly impressed. You can get a copy of the book by getting in touch with Mollie at mollie.bates at gmail.com. She informs me it will eventually be available for purchase online, and I will update this post when that happens.

> Preview the book on Mollie’s online portfolio

Almost everyone has had a printer at one time or the other. This is the age of lexmark printers. Throw away the old ones, and get new printer accessories and start printing right away.

‘It’s Fun To Be In the O-R-D-E-R’

For those accustom to my usual topics about urbanism and D.C., permit me a brief digression about a University of Michigan “leadership” society with a controversial history, that recently re-named themselves from Michigamua to The Order of Angell.

The Ann Arbor blog Left Behind in the Fishbowl has posted what appears to be a copy of lyrics of a song written to be used during initiation rituals by Michigamua/Order of the Angell, titled “YMCA (Pride 2008)”. Whether or not the document is authentic of a sophisticated parody, it makes for hilarious reading.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Michigamua/Order of the Angell because they just inducted new members. Readers of this blog will know I think the group should be abolished since it is a shameful blemish on the history of the University of Michigan, but I won’t belabor the point. I think my views are a quite reasonable conclusion based on my research. It seems some basic history is a good starting point.

1. At its founding, the group created an elaborate invented mythology using their views of Native American culture, which they proceeded to use for nearly 100 years.
2. For 90 years of their history most internal communication (including all newsletters) was in a stylized speech (see below for examples)
3. The group first admitted women in 2000
4. The organized had privileged space in the Michigan Union from the 30s until 2000, had close relationships with administrators for many years, and even at one point had a special university account for their finances. For years, they used university property outside downtown Ann Arbor for special events.
5. They agreed to abolish all references to native American culture in 1989, however the tower occupation revealed numerous objects and a wigwam retained by the organization

Whether it is even possible — or even desirable — to whitewash this history with a quick name change I think is an open question. This is not to mention the appropriateness of having such a group with such an elitist past (and present) claiming to act “for Michigan.”

Here are the new members, from the Daily:

“Pride of 2008″
-Sarah Banco - Women’s soccer
-Lindsey Cottrell - Women’s soccer
-Steve Crompton - Dance Marathon
-Lindsay Davis - Women’s golf
-Alessandra Giampaolo - Softball
-Sam Harper - College Democrats chair
-Michael Hart - Football
-Jen Hsu - Co-chair of the Michigan Student Assembly’s LGBT commission
-Nellie Kippley - Women’s gymnastics
-Matko Maravic - Men’s tennis
-Doug Pickens - Baseball
-Randal Seriguchi - VP of the National Pan-Hellenic council, MSA
-Sejal Tailor - Multicultural Greek Council president
-Alex Tisdall - ROTC
-Tyrel Todd - Men’s wrestling
-Alex Vanderkaay - Swimmer
-Zack Yost - MSA president
-Michael Cromwell - A capella
-Nicole Wojcik - Marching Band
-Anup Shah - IASA
-Rohan Patel - Dance Marathon
-Kelly Sanderson - Women Engineers
-Gervis Menzies - Residence Hall Association

Here’s some images I pulled from my collection:

Newsletters from the 1940s

Class of 1966

Induction ritual photo and account from 1960s

This letterhead was used well into the 1970s. Ironically, this copy contains notes from a meeting where negotiations with Native American students was discussed.

Note, donations from this 1980s fundraising letter are payable to a “University of Michigan — Michigamua Account”

Objects discovered in the “wigwam” during 2000 Student of Color Coalition occupation.

Recent News
> Michigan Daily: “After seven years, group recognized by ‘U’ once again”
> Michigan Daily: “The secret society that lived: New name alone can’t cover blemishes of a shady past”
> Michigan Daily: “Jim Toy Viewpoint: To build a bridge” (Community member describes why he is working with group)

Resources
> Native American Student Association — Michigamua “Guide to Understanding”
> The Order of Angell Maize pages entry
> The Order of Angell website
> Michigamua Members: 1999-2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (For previous years just drop me a line, I have a printed directory going all the way back to 1902)

More
> Previous Michigamua Posts

Wanted: Photos of Google’s Book Digitization Project

I’ve engaged in some speculation before about the size and character of Google’s effort to digitize the nearly 5 million volumes in the University of Michigan library as part of their plan to digitize the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and The New York Public Library. I’ve also long intended to post this request.

I’m looking for photos of the process at work at any of these libraries. I will protect the privacy of any submitted photos to the fullest extent I am able. Please email them to rob.goodspeed at gmail.com

Races I Was Watching

With so many candidates and initiatives on the ballots across the country yesterday I thought it would be worthwhile to point out a few items I was watching.

Although it was exciting to watch the Democrats take back the House for the first time since 1994, the evening wasn’t without its disappointments. At the top of that list must be the success of the affirmative action ban in Michigan. Although the full impact will become clear in the next months and years, the ban threatens not only affirmative action policies for university admissions but also scholarships, retention programs, and other policies that assist not only racial and ethnic minorities but also women. A similar policy in California has led to sharp and stark declines in the number of black students at the top campuses in the UC system - as a particularly egregious example out of nearly 5,000 incoming students this fall at UCLA just 96 are black - around 2%. In Michigan this could mean we see the percentage of black students at the University of Michigan drop below 10% in a metropolitan region that is over 21% black. (Although University of Michigan president pledged today in a rousing speech they would use ‘every legal option available.’) My friend Dumi who is a graduate student at the University of Michigan has posted his thoughts about the initiative. (Which he points out was endorsed by the KKK) Also in Michigan, Carl Levin’s son Andy Levin lost his race for State Senate by a tiny margin in a hotly contested race for a Republican-majority district. Democratic challenger Jim Marcinkowski also failed in his attempt to knock off Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s 8th. Overall the picture in Michigan isn’t all doom and gloom — Governor Jennifer Granholm and Senator Stabenow won re-election, and Democrats took over the Michigan House. Another Michigan friend Chris Wilcox was helping out Michael Arcuri, who successfully won the contested race for New York House District 24.

Another largely-overlooked outcome of the election was the continuing popular backlash against the Kelo vs. New London case: eight states voted to prohibit or restrict the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes. I have mixed feelings about this. Although eminent domain has had a shameful history, I am mostly worried constitutional amendments and ballot initiatives is an inappropriate way of handling the issue and could lead to unintended consequences down the road.

Lastly, as I have already posted it appears my neighborhood ANC in D.C. will have a new chair - Kevin Chappele. Perhaps now that body will publish a regular agenda, post their meeting location on the web, and do a better job serving the needs of the neighborhood.

Michigan Daily Editor to Join Controversial Society

Michigan Daily Editor in Chief Donn Fresard has announced he plans join the controversial University of Michigan senior secret society formerly known as Michigamua. Fresard told the Daily for their own story he decided it was the “the right thing to do,” adding he found “nothing objectionable” about the group after their recent announced changes. In response, the newspaper’s Managing Editor Ashley Dinges has quit the newspaper, arguing Fresard’s decision would constitute a conflict of interest.

Founded in 1902, for nearly 80 years the all male group’s identiy was based in organizational language and practices inspired by Native American culture. In 1989 they agreed to abandon much of the offensive cultural trappings in a negotiated agreement with Native American Students after years of protest. In 1999, the organization admitted the first woman. In 2000, activists forced the organization from their office space in the tower of the Michigan Union they had occupied since the 1930s, revealing a “wigwam” space and artifacts in blatant violation of the 1989 agreement. In 2001 I began posting the names of members to this website.

In 2006, after a year-long series of embarrassing publicity including organization members ejected from student organizations, a critical art exhibit, and investigative documentary film (to which I contributed), the organization announced they would abandoned their 104-year name and released the names of current members.

> Michigan Daily: “Daily Editor in Chief to join senior society”
> Ashley Dinges: “Why I quit my job”
> Romenesko: “Michigan Daily ME quits over top editor’s club membership”
> See all my recent posts on Michigamua

Student Housing in Ann Arbor

My friend Dale has just posted a rough introduction to his urban planning thesis to his blog. He is making an ambitious argument — perhaps too ambitious — but I’m interested to see what he uncovers in the process of investigating it.

In this thesis, I argue that students individually and collectively were agents of change in this period of major alterations in the educational project of the university, in local and university housing policy, and in federal housing policy, making significant contributions to urban development even while they worked within a structural framework of national economic depression and world war, changing federal housing policy, suburbanization, the emergence of the research university, and urban crisis and revitalization. This consideration of student housing, then, is an effective means of examining the changing relationship between the city and the university in twentieth century American urban history.

I’ll also be interested to see what comparisons could be made with College Park from his finished work, and what insights he uncovers on the topic of student voting rights. A year ago I blogged about an interesting group, the Student Voting Rights Campaign, but sadly just noticed their rich trove of articles collected in 2004 was lost to a server crash. Here’s to hoping it’s backed up somewhere.

> Urban Oasis: “Allow Me to Introduce Myself“

Michigan ‘MCRI’ Would Hurt Women, Minorities, Poor

The University of Michigan-based Center for the Education of Women has released a major study examining what the impact of the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative MCRI would have on the state if it is passed in Michigan in November:

The [CEW] study also found that the California amendment led to significant decreases in government contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses, hiring of minority and female professors in the statewide University of California system, and enrollment of minority students in the University of California system. Programs challenged after the passage of Prop 209 included pre-college outreach and preparation for low-income and minority students; outreach and funding for women and minority math, science and technology teachers; programs helping minorities and women become apprentices in the skilled trades; and diversity efforts in appointments made by the governor to corrections and parole boards.

> U. Record: “CEW report examines potential impact of Affirmative Action ballot proposal”
> See the full report at the Center for the Education of Women