Issuu

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Ann Arbor, Michigan

CAMPUS LIFE

michigandaily.com

Festifall spotlights hundred of organizations on North and Central Campus

Thousands gathered to learn more about U-M student organizations

COLE CARRICO/Daily

University of Michigan hosts the annual Festifall club rush in the Diag Wednesday afternoon.

student organizations represented at the annual fair and how it compared to last year’s fair. “We have around 965 student organizations, which is a slight increase from last year, and then there are 20 vendors,” Sell said. “That includes those on both Central and North Campus.” Sell said she encourages students to look on the site Maize Pages for more information on all the organizations on campus since they are not all present at Festifall. “Not all organizations are represented at Festifall, so if students either didn’t get a chance to attend or after the fact want to

ALYSSA TISCH

Daily Staff Reporter

Festifall drew thousands of students to Pierpont Commons on Monday and the Diag on Wednesday, offering the chance to learn more about the University’s hundreds of student organizations, as well as various academic programs and departments. Kaila Sell, lead Festifall organizer and diversity, equity, and inclusion manager at the Center for Campus Involvement, spoke about the broad range of

follow up and learn more about organizations, they should check out Maize Pages,” Sell said. “That has all organizations, their contact information, a little bit about them and they should be able to find more information there.” Engineering junior Ashley Drzewicki, scholarship chair and ritual chair in Phi Sigma Rho, a social sorority for women in engineering and technical science fields, represented her organization at Festifall on North Campus. Drzewicki said she was impressed by the student turnout. “The student turnout was really good,” Drzewicki said. “I

ADMINISTRATION

wasn’t expecting to talk to as many people as I did and have a lot of really genuine conversations about Phi Rho. It is so nice for both incoming freshmen and transfer students as well as older students to get the opportunity to meet new clubs and new people.” Engineering freshman Ashley McPike said she enjoyed being able to attend both Central Campus and the North Campus Festifall. “I went to both Festifalls, and the North Campus Festifall was great for the engineering clubs and the Central Campus Festifall was great for other clubs that

don’t necessarily have to do with my major,” McPike said. “Seeing everybody have their own little groups and niches is really cool to see, especially coming from a small school where I didn’t have this many options.” LSA sophomore Varad Chapalgaonkar, deputy section head for The Michigan Journal of Economics, said he believes Festifall is a valuable resource to help students find extracurriculars they are passionate about at the University. “Michigan is a big community and a lot of people want to do something with their time but

don’t know where to start with finding clubs,” Chapalgaonkar said. “Festifall is a great resource to walk around with friends and actually see all these different clubs and hear their pitches.” Erin Snyder, LSA sophomore and a member of Campus Advocates for Resilience, Empowerment, and Safety, a student organization focused on the health of the U-M student community, said in an interview with The Daily that Festifall is also incredibly important for new organizations looking to expand. Read more at MichiganDaily.com

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

‘We will always protect one another’: CSG holds first meeting of Ann Arbor community gathers to semester, passes fall 2024 budget protest UMich researcher’s arrest The student government met amid concerns that The demonstration follows the arrest of four people it would halt all operations after the SHUT IT DOWN party won the CSG March elections during a pro-Palestine protest on Wednesday AVA CHATLOSH Daily Staff Reporter

Four people were arrested during a pro-Palestine protest on the Diag Wednesday afternoon. Three of those arrested — a community member, a University of Michigan alum and a 16-yearold high schooler — were released 3 hours later. The fourth, a U-M researcher, was placed on a 48-hour hold without bail in the Washtenaw County Jail. As a result, the TAHRIR Coalition, an association of more than 90 proPalestine organizations, launched a campaign advocating for his release, vowing to protest at the U-M Division of Public Safety and Security headquarters and Washtenaw County Jail until the researcher was released.

The protest for the researcher’s release began Thursday at 9 a.m. in the parking lot outside of DPSS headquarters. A crowd of about 50 protesters gathered on hot asphalt in the muggy air, chanting, beating drums and blowing horns. Police stood across the street, closer to DPSS headquarters behind a line of yellow police tape. Protesters moved to the Washtenaw County Jail at noon, and about 30 minutes later the U-M researcher was found at the restaurant Palm Palace, where Public Policy junior Assmaa Eidy said the researcher had walked after his 11:20 a.m. release. In a joint press release between DPSS and Public Affairs, Melissa Overton, Deputy Chief of Police for DPSS, wrote that the protesters on the Diag were given multiple warnings more than an

GOT A NEWS TIP? E-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

hour before the arrests took place. “Some refused to leave and, as a result, four people were arrested,” Overton wrote. “None of the people who were arrested were students.” The release did not comment on why the researcher was detained for an extended period while the other three were released. A student protester, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution and will be referred to as Jaime, told The Daily that while the researcher was standing nearby, he was not involved in the protest. “The police got in formation and just lunged at protesters at random,” Jaime said. “They arrested two individuals at first, and then they arrested another individual … and then another individual who wasn’t even engaging in the protest, who wasn’t even part of the demonstration, who was off to the side, was also arrested.” Overton wrote in an email to The Daily that while the researcher has been released, the incident is still under investigation. Eidy said that the University has ramped up its intensity in response to their protests, but the protesters do not intend to stop until the University divests from companies profiting off Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “First and foremost, we will always protect one another,” Eidy said. “We’re always going to stand FILE PHOTO/Daily here with our community.”

Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily

EDRA TIMMERMAN Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan Central Student Government met in the Wolverine Room of the Michigan Union for the first in-person meeting of the semester Tuesday evening. Amid concerns that the student government would halt all operations after the SHUT IT DOWN party won the Central Student Government March elections, the assembly discussed the decision not to fund student organizations during the spring and summer semesters. The Assembly also passed several resolutions including the fall budget, a resolution to provide select students with discounted parking permits and a resolution requesting reduced police presence surrounding campus polling sites. CSG President Alifa Chowdhury spoke to the Assembly at Tuesday’s meeting to explain the decision to withhold funding from student organizations. “I think by not funding student orgs, we are asking the University to step up,” Chowdhury said. “By asking the regents to not just divest from Israel and weapons manufacturing companies, but to reinvest money from the $18 billion endowment to students and to make y’alls lives better.” CSG Vice President Elias Atkinson said the decision not to

For more stories and coverage, visit

michigandaily.com

INDEX

fund student organizations is part of a larger pressure campaign urging the University to be more responsive to student demands, including those about divestment. “We’re pledging now to sort of step up the communication with everyone and really try to make this a collaborative effort, to use this as a form of protest, for divestment, but also for the things that you guys care about,” Atkinson said. “We can find a way to relate all of our demands and our struggles and bring them together against the Regents or to the Regents and the University. … We could effect a lot of positive change.” The assembly discussed and voted on AR 14-016, a resolution that requested that any police presence be at least 300 feet from poll lines during CSG and general elections. The resolution passed unanimously. The assembly unanimously passed AR 14-021, a resolution proposing gathering data on the CSG Airbus to determine if the initiative is effective in providing affordable transportation for students. If the results of the data show that the CSG Airbus is not effective, the assembly will allocate those funds elsewhere. AR 14-025 calls on the School of Nursing to fund required equipment and procedures for nursing students, such as scrubs, drug screenings and background checks. The resolution passed unanimously.

AR 14-019, which asks the University to provide discounted parking permits for students who qualify for need-based financial aid or are employed by the University, also passed unanimously. Members also discussed AR 14-023, the Fall 2024 CSG Budget Act, which proposes allocating $603,453 to various enterprises within CSG, including but not limited to the Legislative Discretionary Fund, Airbus and the Student Organization Committee. LSA senior Mario Thaqi, CSG representative, shared information about the University’s relatively high endowment and relatively low funding of organizations compared to other Big Ten schools. “I think it’s really important to hold the University accountable for their abysmal funding compared to the rest of the Big Ten,” Thaqi said. “Even though (the Student Organization Funding Committee) provides a lot of money for these club sports organizations, it would be great if that burden was freed up so we could continue to fund more student organizations on this campus.” LSA senior Ryan Grover, president of the U-M rugby team, expressed concerns with the lack of funding for organizations through the Student Organization Funding Committee on behalf of the rugby team.

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 ARTS........................4 MIC.........................6