ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Ann Arbor, Michigan
CAMPUS LIFE
Tune In Turn Out Festival hosts musicians to promote sustainability, voter registration
michigandaily.com
ADMINISTRATION
Environmentally-conscious artists invited to Diag, encourage climate legislation NATALIE ANDERSON Daily Staff Reporter
Following the first snow flurries of the fall, students gathered in the University of Michigan Diag Thursday evening to listen to live music, eat free pizza and register to vote at the Tune In Turn Out Festival. The event was co-hosted by Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) and Empty Mug Records to spread awareness about climate action and encourage U-M students to vote in the midterm elections. Voter registration tables bordered the Diag as upbeat rock and folky acoustics rang from the steps of Hatcher Graduate Library. The event featured performances from environmentally-conscious artists Kelly Hoppenjans, Ani Mari and Big Chemical.
Empty Mug Records, a student-run record label on campus, booked the musicians and coordinated the audio setup for the concert. LSA senior Aly Latherow, co-president of Empty Mug Records, said it was important to prioritize musicians who understood the issues the event advocated for. “We just want to make sure that the artists that are representing the event actually know what they’re representing and know the platform that we’re giving them,” Latherow said. Public Health junior Joseph Cerniglia, co-president of CCL, spoke about CCL’s goals for the festival, emphasizing the importance of voting for candidates who will prioritize environmental issues.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
‘The priorities are first to listen’: Santa Ono outlines goals since taking office
New University president says engaging community, facilitating conversation are values he will pursue during his tenure PAIGE HODDER & GEORGE WEYKAMP Editor in Chief & Daily News Editor
JOSÉ BRENES/Daily Big Chemical performs at the Tune in Turn Out Festival on the Diag Thursday evening.
GRACE BEAL/Daily
University President Santa Ono speaks during his first interview with The Michigan Daily in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building October 18.
The Michigan Daily sat down with new University President Santa Ono on Tuesday afternoon for his first formal interview since officially taking office last Friday. Ono discussed his priorities for the administration, the University’s Climate Action Plan and his plans for engaging with student organizations on campus. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. The Michigan Daily: From city council member to senator to university
president, the beginning of a tenure of a public servant often sets the tone for the goals of the administration and the work yet to come. To help our university community understand what to expect from your administration, what are your priorities for your first 100 days as president of the University of Michigan? Santa Ono: The most important thing is for me to meet with different parts of the institution; that’s why I am thrilled that we are meeting in the first several days of my time here. As you know, I have been on campus for about four or five days, and I am meeting with people in formal meetings, but I am also out and about. For example, I
went to the Michigan Union recently, and I’ve also been to the Michigan League. I am also having meetings with all kinds of individuals around the entire institution, including going to Flint later this week for the regents meeting. It has been a whirlwind of activity, but it hasn’t just started in the past four or five days. It has been three months since the announcement. I have put in hundreds of hours of Zoom meetings and a couple of visits, and had a chance to meet leadership with the student government, but also the Faculty Senate and some of the unions. And so, to answer your question, the priorities are to first listen and then inform my priorities based upon what I
learn from that. TMD: Throughout your tenure as President-elect, you were active on social media trying to engage with student groups on campus. Now that you have officially stepped into the role of president, how do you plan to engage with students here on campus? SO: So you probably noticed that I have actually enhanced the level of engagement on social media. Just in the past hour, I got about 12 direct messages from students and staff and faculty, so that seems to be continuing and is a medium where people feel comfortable interacting with me, which is great. See ONO INTERVIEW, Page 3
CAMPUS LIFE
UMich class of 2026 by the numbers: From winter woes to this year’s dream dorm Freshmen share their feelings on residence halls, anticipated GPA, concerns with tuition
RONI KANE
Daily News Editor
Let’s get a “hail yeah” for the University of Michigan class of 2026. At this point, this year’s freshmen have survived their first seven weeks on campus, including five game days in the Big House, about 130 meals in the dining halls and two University presidents. The Michigan Daily sent a survey to the 5,357 students Information and Technology Services listed as members of the class of 2026 on Sept. 8, receiving 1,194 answers about freshman experiences and expectations. Overall, The Daily found that this year’s freshmen are fairly optimistic when it comes to grades and dorms but less so about the impending winter.
GOT A NEWS TIP? E-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
Here are the results of those who responded: Residence Halls West Quadrangle has been officially crowned the most coveted dorm placement on campus for the second year in a row. Freshmen rated their residence halls on a scale of 1-10 with West Quad averaging a 9.28 satisfaction rate. That’s still slightly down from last year, when the class of 2025 gave West Quad a 9.56 average rating. When LSA freshman Rachel Lim was placed in West Quad over the summer, she said her mother — an alum of the University — told her she was lucky. That’s turned out to be true, Lim told The Daily, and she has enjoyed living in her dorm over the past couple of months.
Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily
From air conditioning to spacious rooms and lounges, Lim said West Quad is one of the best dorms on campus. And the location can’t be beat, she said. “West is definitely top-tier,” Lim said. “The main thing is how central it is. It’s really convenient getting to classes.” Compared to last year, East Quad (8.88 average rating) upset South Quad (8.74 average rating) as the second-most satisfactory dorm on Central Campus for this year’s freshmen. With an average satisfaction rate of 7.76 across all of the dorms, it seems that the freshmen are already feeling pretty at home in Ann Arbor. This year, Baits II beat out Bursley for being the favorite North Campus dorm. And with an average rating of 9.04, Alice Lloyd Residence Hall was
the king — or queen — of the Hill compared to Couzens and MosherJordan Residence Halls’ ratings of 8.19 and 8.75, respectively. GPA Forecasts According to the respondents, prospective neuroscience students think they will have the lowest GPAs upon graduation — with an expected 3.43 average. They’re followed by architecture and nursing students with anticipated GPAs of 3.49 and 3.54, respectively. Out of the 10 majors with the lowest expected grades, half of them are in the College of Engineering. Mechanical engineering, computer science, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering and environmental engineering students all think they will end up with a GPA lower than 3.70 — the median GPA anticipated by the class of 2026. Engineering freshman Julie Anton said she expects her GPA to be around a 3.5 when she graduates in four years. She said she recognizes that engineering courses are rigorous and challenging, especially since she did not have a strong engineering
For more stories and coverage, visit
michigandaily.com
INDEX
background in high school. “Nobody really learns engineering in high school,” Anton said. “I think (a 3.5 GPA) is pretty reasonable for the university we go to and considering the courses I’ll be taking in the future.” Tuition Stress Seventy-eight percent of firstgeneration students in the class of 2026 are at least somewhat concerned about paying tuition, while less than half of non-firstgeneration students are stressed about paying for college. About 14% of all U-M undergraduates are firstgeneration students, though almost a third of underrepresented minority students are firstgeneration. According to a 2017 New York Times analysis for the class of 2013, the median family income at the University was $154,000. The University’s website for first-generation students says 66% of first-generation students come from households making $65,000 or less. That means the majority of first-generation students come from backgrounds where their parents were making
Vol. CXXXII, No. 97 ©2022 The Michigan Daily
less than half of the median family income at the University. While the Go Blue Guarantee offers free tuition for students whose parents make less than $65,000, many first-generation students do not qualify for in-state tuition and are therefore ineligible for the guarantee. LSA freshman Vanessa Rodriguez is a first-generation student whose parents immigrated to Michigan from Cuba about 23 years ago. Though Rodriguez said qualifying for in-state tuition and financial aid has helped take some of the financial burden of going to college off her family, she still has to work a campus job to fund her education. In general, Rodriguez said she has noticed higher stress levels among first-generation students concerning tuition. “Sometimes it’s stressful,” Rodriguez said. “I have to work to help my parents pay (for college) because they said they would help me, but I have to put in that work, too.”
N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 ARTS........................4 MIC............................7
Read more at MichiganDaily.com OPINION...................8 SPORTS.....................11 S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . . I N S E R T