Tag: University of Michigan

University of Michigan Spending on ‘Diversity’ Grew 66 Percent in One Year

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UM students

The University of Michigan’s (UM) spending on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) increased about 66% from the 2022-2023 school year, according to an analysis by Mark Perry, a senior fellow at Do No Harm.

The school’s DEI payroll for the 2022-2023 school year came in at $18 million, but increased to over $30 million for the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Perry’s analysis. UM’s DEI department had 132 full-time diversity employees in the 2022-2023 school year and now has over 300.

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Forty Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested at University of Michigan

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Pro-Palestine, anti-Israel protest at the University of Michican

University of Michigan police arrested 40 people on campus Friday after breaking up a pro-Palestinian protest of hundreds, some of whom had forced their way into an administrative building.

“At least 200 people gathered Friday, calling for the university to divest from Israel,” Michigan Live reported Saturday. “Around 4 p.m., the demonstrators moved from the central campus Diag area to the Ruthven Administration Building.”

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Michigan State Suspends Employee Who Showed Hitler Image on Football Videoboard

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A Michigan State University (MSU) employee was suspended Sunday after allowing an image of Adolf Hitler to be shown on the university’s scoreboard, according to The Associated Press.

The video was shown prior to Saturday’s rivalry football game between MSU and the University of Michigan, according to the AP. Alan Haller, MSU’s vice president and director of Athletics, released a statement Monday confirming that the employee had been suspended without pay and was under investigation, noting that the MSU athletics department failed to check the entire video before it was approved.

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University of Michigan Tells Faculty to Use ‘Inclusive Language, Check ‘Privilege’ in Fall Training Sessions

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New faculty training courses at the University of Michigan this fall ask employees to check their “privilege,” use “inclusive language” for LGBTQ+ individuals, and respond to “harmful microaggressions” on campus.

The university’s Department of Organizational Learning is offering the courses as part of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative – a campus-wide effort that includes students as well as faculty and staff.

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University of Michigan Students Who Test COVID Positive Must Isolate Off Campus

The Center Square

The University of Michigan’s COVID-19 policies tell students who test positive to “make an isolation plan” for five days by getting a hotel, going home or staying with a friend off campus.

“Make an isolation plan, which could include relocating to your permanent residence, staying with a nearby relative or friend, or finding a hotel space,” the U-M guidance says.

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COVID Panic is Back with New Variants Discovered in Michigan and Elsewhere

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking a new COVID-19 strain, BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant that was discovered in Michigan last week as the first case of its kind in the country. The variant has been spotted in the United States, Denmark, Israel and the U.K. This variant is described as being a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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University of Michigan, National Institutes of Health to Spend Nearly $80 Million as Part of ‘DEI 2.0’

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The University of Michigan announced a new initiative to “enhance inclusion and equity across the biomedical and health sciences community,” which includes hiring 30 new professors.

With a $15.8 million investment from the National Institutes of Health and a $63.7 million investment from the University of Michigan, the Michigan Program for Advancing Cultural Transformation will “bolster U-M’s diverse academic environment by hiring tenure-track faculty with a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.”

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University of Michigan’s Botanical Garden Employs DEI Manager, Hosts ‘Confronting Racism’ Training

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University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum is committed to diversity – but not simply the diversity of the plants and animals that call the facility home.

It also employs a DEI manager and actively works to combat racism within its 700 acres of gardens and natural preserves to make up for its “participation in systemic injustices.”

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University of Michigan Pays More than $18 Million to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Staff

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The University of Michigan (UM) spends more than $18 million annually to support its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff, according to an analysis of public salary records by UM emeritus professor Mark Perry.

UM pays a total of $18,120,242 to support more than 142 staff members who work to promote DEI initiatives on campus during the 2022-2023 school year, according to data analyzed by Perry. The total equals the amount it would take to cover the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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University of Michigan Hires Five ‘Inequality and Structural Racism’ Professors to ‘Impact Society’

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The University of Michigan recently hired five faculty members under its Anti-Racism Faculty Hiring Initiative who have “expertise in inequality and structural racism,” campus officials announced.

The faculty will deepen the university’s expertise “on issues of race and racial justice and tangibly impact education and society,” according to an Oct. 28 statement by the university.

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Fired Michigan Physician Assistant Claims Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director Called Her ‘Evil’ for Not Using Preferred Pronouns

The Center Square

A physician assistant at a University of Michigan hospital in west Michigan claims she was told she was evil and was responsible for the suicide of transgender people by the health system’s director of diversity and was later fired because she refused to acknowledge the preferred pronouns of patients.

The First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal organization, spelled out Valerie Kloosterman’s grievances against the University of Michigan Health-West hospital system in a Sept. 27 letter that demands Kloosterman be rehired. First Liberty claims that Kloosterman’s religious rights were violated.

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Students Support Pro-Life Michigan Football Coach

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University of Michigan-Ann Arbor coach Jim Harbaugh made several pro-life statements as a guest speaker at a pro-life event on July 17.

Harbaugh told those in attendance:

“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born. I love life. I believe in having a loving care and respect for life and death. My faith and my science are what drives these beliefs in me.”

Harbaugh then quoted the Book of Jeremiah, stating, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

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Billionaire’s Project Gets $100 Million from Michigan Taxpayers

The Center Square

Michigan’s 2023 budget will give $100 million to a billionaire’s pet project but no tax relief to 10 million Michiganders despite $7 billion leftover in the state’s bank.

The Center Square reported earlier this month that the $77 billion budget gives  $100 million for the Detroit Center for Innovation, a new research facility operated the University of Michigan.

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Florida Universities Record Students’ Preferred Pronouns

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Public universities in Florida are allowing students to add their preferred pronouns to various forms of university identification.

In Fall 2021, for example, USF student newspaper The Oracle reported on the school’s plan to begin allowing students, faculty, and staff to add preferred pronouns to their USF IDs.

The purpose of these new policies is to make campuses more inclusive and welcoming, University of South Florida [USF] Student Government (SG) Lt. Governor Kiara Brooks told Campus Reform.

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Diversity and Inclusion, Anti-Racism Featured Prominently in the MBA Programs Training America’s Future Corporate Leaders

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MBA programs at universities across the country have added diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) initiatives into their program curriculum, orientations, leadership, events, and student groups.

Below is a list of how some universities across this country are training the future woke leaders of American businesses.

The list includes Michigan State University, where Disney CEO Bob Chapek received his MBA degree.

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After Settling Athlete Sex Abuse Case, University of Michigan Hit with Professor Sex Abuse Allegations

Peter D'Abrosca

A prominent former professor at the University of Michigan (UM) has been accused by eight former students of sexual misconduct, ranging from groping to rape, according to reports. 

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told The Michigan Star that Professor Bruce Conforth’s tenure at the school ended in 2017, when he admitted to allegations of sexual misconduct. Conforth resigned, and agreed to “a separation agreement outlined his permanent removal from the university, no contact with students and other requirements.”

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University of Michigan Fires President Mark Schlissel

The Center Square

The University of Michigan fired President Mark Schlissel for an improper relationship with a subordinate – a mistake that cost him his job and part of a contract initially valued up to $10 million over the next 10 years.

A Detroit News report previously estimated the contract payout total.

Last month, an anonymous complaint alerted University of Michigan officials of alleged misconduct. It hired Jenner & Block to investigate, which found “over the years” Schlissel used his work email to “communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the university.”

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Michigan’s Nessel Gets Drunk at College Football Game, Wheeled Out of Stadium

Peter D'Abrosca

Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) claims that two Bloody Marys on an empty stomach led to her being drunkenly wheeled out of Spartan Stadium on Oct. 30, while the University of Michigan (UM) played Michigan State University (MSU) in a rivalry college football matchup.

On Facebook, Nessel, Michigan’s top attorney, posted a photo of herself slumped over in her seat during the game, with a long explainer attempting to joke her way out of the incident, and noting that “my staff has pleaded with me to hire a crisis-management PR firm,” but that she would rather handle the explaining herself. 

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Gov. Whitmer Signs Bill Guaranteeing Vaccine Exemptions for College Students

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The state of Michigan’s most recent budget includes robust protections for college students seeking exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine.

House Bill 4400 — signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) on September 29 — requires that all universities receiving a state appropriation must ensure that students can receive religious and medical exemptions from the vaccine, provided that they obtain a letter from a physician or draft a statement articulating their religious beliefs.

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Commentary: Canceling Columbus at American Universities

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For years, Campus Reform has covered the trend of colleges across the country replacing Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day.” Fueled by concerns of honoring “colonialism” and “genocide,” universities are opting for scrapping remembrance of the explorer all together.

University of Michigan History and American Culture Professor Gregory Dowd is one of many academics who assert that the country as a whole needs to end Columbus Day recognition completely in favor of Indigenous People’s Day. His view was promoted by the university ahead of the holiday this year.

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University of Michigan Anti-Racist Hiring Initiative to ‘Decolonize Educational Material’

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The University of Michigan Department of Health Management and Policy is hiring for tenure-track research positions on “Anti-Racist Policy Analysis.”

This new set of five hires will be distributed among the Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan Medical School, and School of Nursing, and School of Information.

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Former Justice Urges Michigan Redistricting Committee to Ignore UM Advice, Use Geographical – Not Ethnic – Boundaries

The Center Square

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman urged Michigan’s independent redistricting committee to use geographical boundaries instead of racial, ethnic, or religious groups to determine the state’s new voting boundaries.

Markman took to the Wall Street Journal opinion page June 25 to air his concerns.

Markman, who retired from the Michigan Supreme Court in 2020, supports drawing boundaries via neighborhoods, instead of “communities of interest,” such as shared concerns for which a University of Michigan report advocated.

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University of Michigan Professors Recommend Taking Down Legendary Football Coach’s Name from Arena

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Yost Ice Arena

A committee of professors at the University of Michigan has recommended that the university strip the name of a former football coach from the university’s ice hockey arena.

Fielding Yost, the namesake of Yost Ice Arena, coached the Michigan Wolverines football team to multiple national championships during the first half of the twentieth century, but he had an adverse effect on the well-being of black athletes when he was active, the professors claimed.

“In naming the Field House after Yost, the University chose to place one man’s contributions to football and to athletics above the profoundly deep and negative impact he had on people of color,” wrote the President’s Advisory Committee on University History.

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‘I Will Not Be Canceled’: Conservative Regent Fights Back After Censure Vote from University of Michigan

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Ron Weiser

Administrators censured a conservative University of Michigan regent after he made controversial comments about Democratic state leadership, despite similar comments from left-leaning students and faculty.

Ron Weiser — who became a regent in 2016 and is currently serving as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party — called Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General Dana Nessel “witches” and suggested that they be burned at the stake.

Weiser is the first regent to be censured in the university’s 200-year history.

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Michigan Campus Diversity Program Accused of Having Toxic Environment

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University of Michigan’s ADVANCE program has been hit with allegations of discrimination, with former employees accusing its leadership of allowing microaggressions and a toxic environment to fester, among other claims.

The program employs about a dozen people and is focused on faculty recruitment, retention, climate and leadership development as it works “to address necessary institutional changes to support the needs of a diverse faculty in all fields,” its website reads.

An investigative piece by The Michigan Daily, the school’s student-run newspaper, found 12 alleged instances of discrimination and a hostile work environment spanning eight years from 2012 to 2020.

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Students of Color Liberation Front Sends More Than 100 Demands to the University of Michigan

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Student activists from a coalition of racial identity groups sent the University of Michigan administration an 18-page list with more than 100 demands.

“We, the Students of Color Liberation Front, unwavering in our commitment to liberate all peoples on campus, call for the University of Michigan to realize our collective demands,” the letter said.

The signers behind the letter include the Black Student Union, the Arab Student Association, La Casa, the United Asian American Organizations and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality.

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University of Michigan Just Proved only a Government Bureaucracy Can Take 200+ Days to do a Seven Hour Job

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A Freedom of Information Act request from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni concerning an endowment gift to the University of Michigan has led to a lawsuit against the school for not responding.

According to the complaint, ACTA filed the request on behalf of an alumnus who wanted to obtain information relating to an endowed gift. The lawsuit explains that the University’s initial response came five days later than legally required, along with an estimate that it would take approximately seven hours to complete, and up to forty-five days to produce the documents along with a fee.

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UM: Students Reporting Huge Spike in Anxiety, Depression During COVID-19

Peter D'Abrosca

Continuing with a national trend, a University of Michigan study found that college students reported record levels of anxiety and depression during the fall semester of the 2020 school year, during nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns. 

“The UM Healthy Minds Study, an annual web-based survey looking at mental health and service utilization among undergraduate and graduate students, found that 47% of respondents screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety – up from 44% last year and the highest since the survey started in 2007,” according to Michigan Live.

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University of Michigan’s IT Department Told to Stop Using Word ‘Picnic’ as it Could ‘Harm Morale’

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“Crack the whip.” “Master/slave.” Even the term “picnic” has been deemed offensive, according to a lengthy list of words and phrases put out recently by the University of Michigan’s Information and Technology Services’ “Words Matter Task Force.”

“To effectively communicate with customers, it is important for ITS to evaluate the terms and language conventions that may hinder effective communication, harm morale, and deliberately or inadvertently exclude people from feeling accepted to foment a healthy and inclusive culture,” states the memorandum obtained by The College Fix.

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University of Michigan Native American, Latinx Groups Demand Required Courses on ‘Decolonial Pedagogy’

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Two University of Michigan student interest groups have joined forces to make demands of school officials, including mandated classes focusing on “decolonial pedagogy.”

The Native American Student Association and La Casa sent their “United Statement” to UM Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Robert Sellers on “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” October 12, The Michigan Daily reports.

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University of Michigan Leadership Moves to Block President Trump’s Action to Combat Chinese Theft of U.S. Research

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In response to new restrictions on Chinese students and researchers in the U.S., recently announced by President Donald Trump, the University of Michigan issued a statement vocalizing the school’s opposition to the Republican administration’s latest move.

Signed by the college’s President, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Research and Dean at Rackham Graduate School, the letter says that these restrictions have “led to understandable worry.” They express resistance to the restrictions on the grounds that “our Chinese students, post-doctoral scholars and faculty have enriched our institution through teaching, learning, research and impact on society.”

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JC Bowman Commentary: The Looming Changes in Student Teaching

JC Bowman

As educators, we are concerned about the quality and quantity of applicants entering the field of education.   Our members have often been catalysts for innovative solutions to the many challenges facing education.  That is why we take an interest in the next generation of educators and why our focus is on how to improve their experience and support as they transition from teacher candidate to classroom teacher.

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University of Michigan and Harvard Professor Says #MeToo Wouldn’t Have Happened if Hillary Won

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by John Hasson   A University of Michigan professor and Harvard University visiting professor recently claimed that the #MeToo movement would not have occurred if Hillary Clinton were president. Catharine MacKinnon, a UMich law professor and Harvard visiting professor, made the remark at the University of California, Berkeley’s annual #MeToo conference during the spring semester. In her keynote speech, MacKinnon compared accusations of sexual abuse made against President Bill Clinton with those made against President Donald Trump, calling claims made against Clinton “a morality crusade” and suggesting that many people were only concerned with the “right use of it [the allegations] for political gain.” But MacKinnon asserted that the election of Trump fundamentally changed the way that reports of sexual assault were viewed. In her speech, she also contrasted Clinton with Trump by referring to the former president as someone Americans “actually elected.” “Instead of interfering with a respected president…somebody…the American people actually elected, exposing these violations in one’s own life became a means of resisting the forces of darkness,” MacKinnon stated. “Misogyny, racism, fascism, lies, stupidity, you name it.” The professor also stated that “indifference to reports of sexual abuse, that was part of what got [Trump] elected right?…

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