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Wednesday, October 1, 2025 ADMINISTRATION
UMich rejects Student Relations Advisory Committee proposals to protect political speech, reinstate appeals board Of the committee’s proposed amendments, eight were approved, 10 rejected and one placed under further review
BRADY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Staff Reporter
Maisie Derlega/DAILY
CAMPUS LIFE
Zach Bryan breaks record for largest ticketed concert attendance in U.S. history at Big House Country musician’s ‘The Quittin Time Tour’ lands in Ann Arbor, brings 112,408 fans
Alyssa Mulligan/DAILY
QUINN MITTLESTAT Daily Staff Reporter
Typical of fall in Ann Arbor, tens of thousands of people flocked to the Big House Saturday evening. However, rather than for football, visitors from across the country came to see Zach Bryan, Billboard chart-topping country musician, perform on the last stop of “The Quittin Time Tour”. Bryan’s sold-out performance broke the United States ticketed concert attendance record, with 112,408 people in attendance. The previous record was held by George Strait, who performed for an audience of 110,905 at Texas A&M in 2024. The Grammy award-winning artist played songs from albums across his discography. John Mayer, seven-time Grammy winner, as well as Ryan Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen, Keenan O’Meara and Joshua Slone also performed. Saturday’s performance was the first-ever concert hosted in the Big House. In an interview with The Michigan Daily,
Taubman freshman Ava Cauda, who attended the concert, said she thinks the event may lead to a shift in how people view Ann Arbor. “Outside of college and a football or educational context, not a lot of people think of Ann Arbor,” Cauda said. “But now, such a big artist is coming here and having the name get out there again and in a different context, and I think that’s really interesting. I think it makes me hopeful for more live music and more events in the Big House.” Cauda said she feels events like concerts can provide a sense of community. “It kind of takes the school spirit and the small downtown and city vibe to a different level,” Cauda said. “The college town had a whole new energy to it for me. I think it’s a great way to bring people together. I think music on its own is a great way to connect people. And I’m so excited for that inevitable connection with so many people in one area.” The concert attracted both new fans and longtime listeners. Cauda said this tour is rumored to be Bryan’s last and she felt
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Holly Burkhart/DAILY Zach Bryan and John Mayer perform at Michigan Stadium Saturday evening.
compelled to attend after seeing videos of his performance at Notre Dame Stadium. “I realized that it was going to be an experience that I did not want to miss out on,” Cauda said. “I only started listening to him on my own and avidly, I would say, December or January of last year. And ever since I started, I did not turn back. I listened to him 24/7.” In an interview with The Daily, Information junior Abbey Halabis, who also attended the concert, said she was originally surprised Byran was the performer at the Big House. Halabis said his younger age means that more people can relate to his music. “I felt like his lyrics, for me anyway, they kind of spoke to
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some of the experiences that we were going through at the time,” Halabis said. “What makes him special for the people my age and college students is because his music is just good, but I also feel like he’s a really good lyricist.” Halabis said football season ticket holders had priority access to purchase tickets and she was able to purchase them without a problem. “I was one of the first people to grab a ticket,” Halabis said. “I think that Michigan, (the University and) Zach Bryan, hand in hand, they did a great job with making sure that these were accessible and not thousands of dollars.”
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On Sept. 8, Erik Wessel, Office of Student Conflict Resolution director, sent an email to the University of Michigan student body detailing, among other administrative changes, recent amendments to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities. The email provided brief descriptions of the approved amendments, but did not go into detail on a number of language modifications. Documents obtained by The Michigan Daily show the Student Relations Advisory Committee, a committee composed of University students, faculty and staff, submitted their list of 19 proposed SSRR amendments Feb. 26 in a memorandum from SRAC Chair Dr. Marita Inglehart to Martino Harmon, vice president for student life. U-M interim President Domenico Grasso responded to Inglehart Aug. 29, detailing which SRAC proposals had been approved and rejected. Of the 19 proposed amendments, eight were approved, 10 were rejected and one was placed under further review. Several of the approved amendments had been revised by the Office of the President to include language that was not present in SRAC’s original proposals. In an interview with The Daily, Law School student Om Shah, former SRAC member, said he felt these revisions were an attempt to disguise unilateral decisions as democratic ones. “It’s another way for the University to implement these unilateral edits without making a big fuss over it,” Shah said. “It’s really dishonest, and it circumvents the democratic processes that we have in place to protect the students and the community members on campus here. So, it’s really disheartening to see.” The University’s Board of Regents made changes to the SSRR in July 2024. These changes were instituted without consulting SRAC, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs or Central Student Government, a break from typical SSRR amendment procedure. The Board claimed the Michigan Constitution gave them the right to make amendments in this way. The Michigan Constitution gives the regents general supervision of the University. In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Kay Jarvis wrote the changes to the SSRR were intended to improve the disciplinary processes for students. “Under the Michigan Constitution, the Board of Regents has the authority to modify the statement,” Jarvis wrote. “The Board amended the statement after considering campus safety and how best to ensure that student discipline processes are both fair and provide certainty to affected students in a more timely manner.” In an interview with The Daily, Inglehart claimed the regents’ changes removed community input from the SSRR amendment process and broke from normal procedure.
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“That was very shocking, not only because they took the power away from everybody, but they went against the process that was outlined in the SSRR,” Inglehart said. In response to the regents’ changes, SRAC proposed an amendment that sought to prohibit amending the SSRR outside of the traditional process, but the proposal backfired. Grasso approved the amendment but added language granting the Board “the right to modify the Statement outside of the traditional amendment process,” contrary to SRAC’s intentions. In an interview with The Daily, Kaitlin Karmen, PhD candidate and former SRAC member, claimed this proposal was intended to stop the Board from making changes that the SRAC viewed as an overstep of their powers. “The reason that we proposed this was because these unilateral changes were so clearly authoritarian and designed to target pro-Palestine activism, because those are the people that are experiencing charges through OSCR,” Karmen said. “By sticking it in there, (the regents) codify their right to authoritarianism. And now, it’s not an authoritarian move to make a unilateral change. In fact, it’s sanctioned by the SSRR, which is a democratic process, right?” Jarvis wrote the new language in the SSRR confirmed the regents’ ability to change the statement particularly to comply with external laws and policies. “The Board of Regents has the right to modify the statement,” Jarvis wrote. “This was affirmed last year. Language was added to include this and state that the university may need to make administrative modifications to the statement to ensure compliance with federal/state law as well as other university policies.” One SRAC proposal would reinstate an appeals board composed of students, faculty and staff to hear individuals who wish to appeal a University decision. The panel was abolished last year in the Board’s changes. The proposal remains under further review and may be changed from the original SRAC proposal’s language to allow an appeals board only at the request of the vice president for student life, instead of being triggered automatically on appeal submission. Shah said that while decisions made by an appeals board were not binding, they provided students and staff an opportunity to push back against potentiallyunfair University decisions. “At the very least, we had documentation showing that, in some cases, the initial decision from the student panel had gone one way, the appeals panel had ruled the same way, and the University’s one sole administrator decided to change that, overrule it and give sanctions out to a student that was found to be not responsible multiple times,” Shah said. “By removing the appeals board, they remove a little bit of the documentation showing how ridiculous their own argument was and how unbalanced the process was against the student.”
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