‘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

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

Michigamua Publishes Names, Commits to Reforms

The Michigan Daily published yesterday the names of the 2006 and 2007 Michigamua classes, and reported that the organization would be abandoning their name.

The list includes several members which will no doubt provoke some controversy: MSA President Nicole Stallings and LSA Student Government President Andrew Yahkind. Missing from the list was Michigan Daily Editor-In-Chief Donn Fresard, who had been widely rumored to be a member. From the Daily’s story, here’s the list:

List of members

Pride of 2006: Katie Banas, Nick Benson, Michael Caplan, Jenny Deiley, Chris DeJong, Andrew Ebbett, Tyler Ecker, Andrew Ellerton, Lori Hillman, Brian Hull, Jenny Knoester, Dennis Lee, Neal Pancholi, A.J. Scheidt, Gerry Signorelli, Kelene Soltesz, Davis Tarwater, Peter Vanderkaay, Greg Wagner, Sam Woll

Pride of 2007: Sirene Abou-Chakra, Lindsey Bruck, Josh Churella, Tim Cook, Matt Hunwick, Brian Ignaut, Jon Krasnov, Adam Kraus, Lauren Kraus, Jake Long, Christina Macholan, Leif Mahler, Matt McLaughlin, Gopal Pai, Eric Rose, Ashish Shah, Katelin Spencer, Nicole Stallings, Katie Tamarelli, Eric Tannenbaum, Andrew Yahkind, Dave Young

Their coverage of the news:

>> Michigan Daily: “Michigamua commits to reforms” (4/12)
>> Michigan Daily: “Reactions to Michigamua Reforms Mixed” (4/13)
>> Daily Viewpoint by Sam Woll: “Moving on from Michigamua”

Also, the Daily printed this letter to the editor today:

To the Daily:
I find it absurd that the University would consider recognizing Michigamua as an official student group (Michigamua commits to reforms, 04/12/2006). Any group that has a history of mocking my people and culture, such as this group, does not have a place in the University. Racism is racism, no matter what the name. I also find it absurd that the members of Michigamua would willingly make their names public. I guess it is good for all of us to know the names of racists on campus.

Wyaudtnoong Adams
LSA junior

The Daily’s arts section also profiled the short documentary produced by M-Agination Films which will premier at 7 p.m. tonight that I have mentioned here before. I was interviewed for the film in December, and their story about the film opens with this hilarious passage:

His solemnity bordering on pomp, his curly brown hair rippling in the wind and with the Washington Monument looming just over his shoulder, blogger Rob Goodspeed of goodspeedupdate.com simply declares “Secrecy is sexy and exciting.” The fewer the words, the more daunting their power, and Goodspeed’s five in the new M-agination made documentary “Fight Like Hell” certainly make that point. Michigamua, the University’s traditionally secretive, selective and at times racist senior honor society, has remained so closed over the years because, without secrecy, its mystique is lost.

Finally, with this post, I’m announcing my semi-retirement from the Michigamua beat. I originally posted information about the organization’s members on this domain because I believed the University community had a right to know the membership of an elite organization that claimed to be “fighting for Michigan” from the shadows. I also thought the claims of the Student of Color Coalition deserved to be discussed in an open forum. With the publication of the members’ names this week — and a broader, public discussion about the organization’s history spearheaded by young activists taking place on campus — the role this website has played in the debate is no longer needed. I added the “semi” because although I’ll refrain from most posting, I cannot promise no additional Michigamua content (I’ve got to digitize my member directory going back to 1902 at some point).

I suppose that leaves me with one last item to take care of: the naming competition. Unfortunately, the pool of submissions wasn’t as broad as I had hoped. Although containing some clever entries, the jury really didn’t see anything that jumped out at us. I suppose that’s something for the campus community to decide.

Every home business opportunity is worth one scavenging try because you never know when you may strike gold. A legit work at home can mean any kind of job. The key is to follow something you are passionate about. Then work at home would become really interesting. While working from home, one can also take care of a lot of other things. However, the capital required for the home business startup should not be a lot, practically speaking.

Name Michigan’s Premier Secret Society!

That’s right folks, you’ve got the chance to name a secret society!

According to my sources, the premier University of Michigan secret senior honor society has recently voted to abandon the name Michigamua. The change is apparently in an attempt to convince the community they have “changed” and to distance themselves from a 90+ year history intertwined with offensive references to Native American culture, complete with loin cloths, headdresses, Native-sounding nicknames, and an elaborate organization mythology. Although the organization seems to have abandoned some of these traditions in the 1990s, the Student of Color Coalition Michigan Union Tower Occupation of 2000 proved to most they had not taken the steps they promised to make in 1989 and remove all reference to Native American culture from their practices. I’ve uploaded a number of relevant documents to my Flickr account. As a note, in 2000 the organization decided to add a subtitled, calling themselves “Michigamua: New Traditions for a New Millennium” but it didn’t seem to stick anywhere but their official website.

Thus, I’m proud to announce the first-ever Secret Society Naming Competition. While I can’t promise the actual organization will adopt the name, I do know many members frequent this website and I’m sure they’ll consider any quality submissions. I also promise to use the winning name with due credit prolifically on this site. To enter, simply leave your suggestion in the comments before noon on Thursday, April 13th. I will consult my secret panel of judges (It’s only fitting, right?) and announce the winner later that day. Good luck!

Michigamua Re-Named?

Sources say they’ll simply refer to themselves as “The Pride of 2007″ for the time being, and there is talk of a new name. The final turnover to the new class is tonight.

links for 2006-03-19

• Michigamua Documentary Trailer (.mov)
  Jamie Shenk has released a new trailer for a short documentary on Michigamua. He’s unearthed some great archival footage of the group’s induction ceremony, and the trailer includes a short piece of his interview of me.
• So, what’s the point of SWSX?
  My friend Michael ponders the meaning of the recently concluded internet conference. Maybe I’ll go next year.

Michigamua’s Broken 1989 Promise

Much of the talk about Michigamua, and the crux of the lawsuit filed last week in Washtenaw County Court, is a 1989 agreement between the university, Michigamua, and Native American students, that the organization would abandon all references to Native American Culture. In 2000, 11 years after that agreement was signed, the Student of Color Coalition discovered that the organization’s “Wigwam” in the Michigan Union still held many authentic and imitation Native American artifacts in violation of their agreement to abandoned this part of their identity.

Before now, I have only read about this agreement, and never seen a copy for myself. Yet a copy of the lawsuit sent to me contained it as an addendum. I’ve already run the text of the complaint, but here’s an image of the 1989 agreement in question. (Or click on the image to the right.) It’s quite straight forward, with the organization promising to eliminate “all references to Native American culture and pseudo-culture and extensions and parodies thereof, with the one exception being the name, Michigamua, for now and forever.”

The Daily has recently published some commentary about the meaning of this document, their editorial board weighing in on the side of activists in January. Here are a couple opposing op-eds which ran in response:
> ” Michigamua has troubled past”
> “Looking to the future by learning from the past”