|
|
The University of Michigan
|
|
|
| Motto |
Artes, Scientia, Veritas ("Arts, Knowledge, Truth")
|
| Established |
1817 |
| Type |
Flagship
Public
Sea-grant
Space-grant |
| Academic term |
Trimester |
| Endowment |
US $5.65 billion[1] |
| President |
Mary Sue Coleman |
| Faculty |
6,238 |
| Students |
40,025 |
| Undergraduates |
25,555 |
| Postgraduates |
14,470 |
| Location |
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA |
| Campus |
3,176 acres (12.86 km²)
Total: 20,965 acres (84.84 km²), including arboretum |
| Sports |
Wolverines |
| Colors |
Maize and Blue |
| Website |
www.umich.edu |
 |
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, UM or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research
university in the state of Michigan. The university was founded in 1817 in
Detroit, about 20 years before the territory of Michigan officially became a state,
and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Today, it is the state's oldest university and the
flagship campus of the University of Michigan system, which now has two satellite campuses, the University of Michigan, Flint and the University of Michigan, Dearborn.
In its last published survey in 1995, the National Research
Council ranked UM third in the United States in a study that aggregated evaluations of 41 graduate disciplines.[2] The university has one of the largest research expenditures of
any American university and one of the largest number of living alumni at 420,000.[3] The university owns one of the most well-regarded academic medical centers
in the United States, the University of Michigan Health
System.[4] UM is recognized for its history of
student activism and its athletic teams, notably in football, men's basketball, and ice hockey. It is considered as one of the original eight Public
Ivys[5].
Despite being a public institution, the University of Michigan is known for its high student fees; in 2007, tuition for
out-of-state students was the most expensive in the country.[6] The university has also been at the center of a national controversy involving the use of
affirmative action in admissions. Though the university
successfully affirmed before the U.S. Supreme Court that
consideration of race as a factor in admissions to universities was constitutional for the holistic law school admissions process in 2003,[7] the Supreme Court also expressed an opinion on the degree to which race could be
used by striking down the policy for undergraduate admissions in a separate court case. The former policy automatically awarded
20 points to all minority applicants in its points-based system.[8] Michigan voters responded by approving
restrictions on affirmative action in public universities and governmental hiring in November 2006. This meant that the
university had to cease using race and gender as criteria for admissions.[9]
History
-
The University of Michigan was established in Detroit in 1817 as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, by the
governor and judges of Michigan Territory. Ann Arbor had set aside 40 acres (16 ha)
that it hoped would become the site for a new state capitol, but it offered this land to the university when Lansing was chosen as the state capital. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. The original 40
acres became part of the current Central Campus. The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a
sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845. By 1866, enrollment increased
to 1,205 students, many of whom were Civil War veterans. Women were first admitted in
1870, making UM the first major university to do so (and the third college overall, after Oberlin College in 1833 and Lawrence University in 1847).
James B. Angell, who served as the university's president from 1871 to 1909, aggressively expanded UM's curriculum to include
professional studies in dentistry, architecture,
engineering, government, and medicine. UM also became the first American university to use the seminar
method of study.[10]
The Central Campus Diag, viewed from the Graduate Library, looking North.
From 1900 to 1920 many new facilities were constructed on campus, including facilities for the dental and pharmacy programs, a
chemistry building, a building for the natural sciences, Hill Auditorium, large hospital
and library complexes, and two residential halls. The university fortified its reputation for research in 1920 by reorganizing
the College of Engineering and forming an advisory committee of 100 industrialists to guide academic research initiatives. During
World War II, UM's research grew to include U.S.
Navy projects such as proximity fuzes, PT boats,
and radar jamming. By 1950, enrollment had reached 21,000, of whom 7,700
were veterans supported by the G.I. Bill. As the Cold War
and the Space Race took hold, UM became a major recipient of government
grants for strategic research and helped to develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy. At
present, much of that work, as well as research into alternative energy sources, is pursued via the Memorial Phoenix
Project.[11]
On October 14, 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy proposed
the concept of what became the Peace Corps on the steps of Michigan Union.[12] Lyndon B.
Johnson's speech outlining his Great Society program also occurred at UM.[12] Also during the 1960s, UM saw many protests by
student groups. On March 24, 1965, a group of UM faculty members
and 3,000 students held the nation's first ever faculty-led "teach-in" to protest against American policy in Southeast
Asia.[13][14] In response to a series of sit-ins in 1966 by Voice–the
campus political party of Students for a Democratic Society–UM's administration banned sit-ins. This stimulated 1,500 students to
conduct a further one-hour sit-in in the administration building.
During the 1970s, severe budget constraints challenged the university's physical development; however, the 1980s saw a surge
in funds devoted to research in the social and physical sciences. Meanwhile, the university's involvement in the anti-missile
Strategic Defense Initiative and investments in South Africa caused controversy on campus. During the 1980s and 1990s, the university devoted substantial
resources to renovating its massive hospital complex and improving the academic facilities on the North Campus. The university
also emphasized the development of computer and information technology throughout the campus.
In the early 2000s, UM also faced declining state funding due to state budget shortfalls. At the same time, the university
attempted to maintain its high academic standing while keeping tuition costs affordable. There
were also disputes between UM's administration and labor unions, notably with the Lecturers' Employees Organization (LEO) and the
Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the union representing graduate student employees. These conflicts led to a series of
one-day walkouts by the unions and their supporters.[15]
In 2003, two lawsuits involving UM's affirmative action
admissions policy reached the U.S. Supreme Court (Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v.
Bollinger). President George W. Bush took the unusual step of publicly
opposing the policy before the court issued a ruling. The court found that race may be considered as a factor in university
admissions in all public universities and private universities that accept federal funding. However, a point system was ruled as
being unconstitutional. In the first case, the court upheld the Law
School admissions policy, while in the second it ruled against the university's undergraduate admissions policy. The
debate still continues, however, because in November of 2006 Michigan voters passed proposal 2, banning most affirmative action in university admissions. Under that law
race, gender, and national origin can no longer be considered in admissions.[9] UM and other organizations were granted a stay from implementation of
the passed proposal soon after that election, and this has allowed time for proponents of affirmative action to decide legal and
constitutional options in response to the election results. The university has stated it plans to continue to challenge the
ruling; in the meantime, the admissions office states that it will attempt to achieve a diverse student body by looking at other
factors such as whether the student attended a disadvantaged school, and the level of education of the student's parents.[9]
The August 1, 2006, publication of The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students highlighted the University of Michigan as one of the 20
best campuses for LGBT students.[16] The guide acknowledged colleges and universities across the United States for making strides toward
the advancement and integration of the LGBT community via a wide variety of student support groups, resources, events, policies,
and other efforts to create an overall exceptional educational climate for these individuals.
Academic profile
Central Campus: Angell Hall, one of the major buildings of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
The university has 25,555 undergraduate and 14,470 graduate students in 600 academic programs, and each year about 5,400 new students are enrolled.
Students come from all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 countries.[17] 98% of the university's incoming class of 2006 earned a high school GPA of 3.0
and higher, while the middle 50% of the incoming class earned a high school GPA of 3.60 to 3.90.[18][19] The
middle 50% of applicants reported an SAT score of about 1900–2160 and an ACT score of 27–31, with AP credit granted to over
3000 freshmen students.[20] About 22% of newly-enrolled
undergraduates and 25% of all undergraduates are members of ethnic minority
groups.[21]
About 65% of undergraduate students are enrolled in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
(LS&A), while the College of Engineering has about
20%. Fewer than 3% of undergraduate students are enrolled in the Ross School of
Business. The rest of the undergraduate students are enrolled in the smaller schools, including the School of Nursing, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the
School of Art and Design.[22] Most graduate students are enrolled in the Rackham Graduate School,
the College of Engineering, the Law School, the Ross School of Business, and the
Medical School. The Medical School is partnered with the
University of Michigan Health System, which comprises the
University's three hospitals, dozens of outpatient clinics, and many centers for medical care, research, and education. Other
academic units include the Gerald R. Ford School of Public
Policy, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban
Planning and the Schools of Dentistry, Education, Information, Music, Theatre & Dance, Natural
Resources and Environment, Public Health, and Social Work,
of which Social Work has been ranked first by the U.S. News and World Report every year since 1994.[23]
There are over 6,200 faculty members, 73 of whom are members of the National Academy, and 435 of whom hold an endowed chair in their discipline.[24] The university has also matriculated 24 Rhodes Scholars.[25]
In one recent rankings summary, more than 70% of UM's 200 major programs, departments, and schools were very highly.[26] The 2008 U.S. News and World Report ranks UM 25th among all American universities and 3rd (tied
with UCLA) among public
universities.[27] In its 2007 annual
college rankings, The Washington Monthly ranks UM sixth nationally with
criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility.[28] Newsweek International rates UM 11th globally based on
"openness and diversity" as well as "distinction in research".[29] Similarly, the 2007 edition of the Fiske Rankings rates UM with "5 Stars"—reserved for only
those universities of the highest academic quality. Furthermore, UM's academic reputation has led to its inclusion on Richard
Moll's list of Public Ivies.[30]
A concern about academics at UM is the high level of educational expenses for a public institution, especially for
out-of-state undergraduate students, who pay about US $30,000 annually for tuition
alone. In 2005, out-of-state tuition at UM was the most expensive in the United States for a public college or
university.[31] Conversely, in-state undergraduate
students paid about US $10,000 annually.[32]
Notwithstanding the quoted tuition levels, the university is attempting to lower the cost of attendance. To that end, the
university is building a US $400 million endowment in order to replace loans with out-right grants to students.[33][34]
Research and endowment
Biomedical Science Research Building at the UM Medical School.
The university is one of the founding members (1900) of the Association
of American Universities, the nation's most significant consortium of research universities. The university has one of the
largest annual research expenditures of any university in the United States, totaling about US $775 million per annum from 2004
to 2005, and US $797 million in 2006.[35] The Medical School spent the most at over US $333 million, while the College of
Engineering was second at more than $131 million.[35] UM also has a technology transfer
office, which is the university conduit between laboratory research and corporate commercialization interests.
UM helped develop one of the first university computer networks (the Merit Network) and has made major contributions to the
mathematics of information theory. Other major contributions included the precursor
to the National Science Foundation computer networking backbone,[36] the virtual memory model, and computer databases. The university
is also a major contributor to the medical field with the EKG, gastroscope, the announcement of Jonas Salk's polio
vaccine, and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system or ECMO.
The university's 13,000-acre (53 km²) biological station in
the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan is one of only 47 Biosphere Reserves in the United States.[37]
UM is home to the National Election Studies and the
University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.
Political scientists and policy analysts use UM's Correlates of War project as a gauge
of nations' relative global power and a barometer for the outbreak of war. The university is
also home to major research centers in optics, reconfigurable manufacturing systems,
wireless integrated microsystems, and
social sciences. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute is located at the university, and support was
recently given to the life sciences with the establishment of the Life Sciences Institute and
the construction of associated facilities. Undergraduate students are able to participate in various research projects through
the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) as
well as the UROP/Creative-Programs.[38]
UM's financial endowment (the "University Endowment Fund") was valued at $5.65
billion in NACUBO's 2006 ranking.[1] It
is the ninth largest endowment in the U.S. and the
third-largest among U.S public universities, as well as the fastest growing endowment over the last 20 years.[39] The endowment is primarily used according to the donors' wishes, which
include the support of teaching and research. In mid-2000, UM embarked on a massive fund-raising campaign called "The Michigan
Difference," which aimed to raise $2.5 billion, with $800 million dollars designated for the permanent endowment.[40] Slated to run through December 2008, the university
announced that the campaign had reached its target 19 months early in May 2007.[41]
Libraries and museums
Law School Library reading room
- See also: University of Michigan
Library and Museums at the University of
Michigan
The UM library system comprises 19 individual libraries with 24
separate collections—roughly 8.27 million volumes, growing at the rate of 177,000 volumes a year.[42] In the most recent academic year for which such figures are released (2005),
the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) — using a variety of
metrics — ranked UM's library system as one of the top academic library systems in the U.S.[43]
UM was the original home of the JSTOR database, which contains about 750,000 digitized pages
from the entire pre-1990 backfile of ten journals of history and economics. The University recently initiated a book digitization program in collaboration with
Google. As of August 31, 2006,
UM has rolled out the first phase of the Google archive retrieval.[44]
Two prominent libraries, the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and the
Shapiro Undergraduate Library (also called the UGLi, which is officially an acronym but was used by students as a reference to
the building's uninspired appearance prior to its recent renovation), are on Central Campus and are connected by a
skywalk. The Duderstadt Center on North Campus houses books on art,
architecture, and engineering. The Duderstadt Center
also contains multiple computer labs, video
editing studios, and a 3D virtual
reality room. North Campus is also home to the Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Library and the Bentley Historical Library.
The UM Museum of Art on Central Campus.
The University of Michigan is home to a number of museums, whose focuses include archeology, anthropology, paleontology, zoology, dentistry, and
art. The natural history public collections are housed at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, which
displays items from the collections of the paleontology, zoology, and anthropology museums. The Exhibit Museum also holds the
largest display of dinosaur specimens in Michigan, as well a specimen of the state
fossil, the mastodon (the only such display in the world containing adult male and
female specimens: the Buesching and Owosso mastodons).[45] Another major university museum is the University of Michigan Museum of Art, with a permanent
collection of European, American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African items, and temporary exhibits on a wide variety of
subjects.
Campus
Locations of the three main U-M campuses in Ann Arbor
The Ann Arbor campus is divided into four main areas: the North, Central, Medical, and South Campuses. The physical
infrastructure includes more than 500 major buildings, with a combined area of more than 29 million square feet (664 acres or
2.69 km²).[46] The campus also consists of leased space
in buildings scattered throughout the city, many occupied by organizations affiliated with the University of Michigan Health
System. An East Medical Campus has recently been developed on Plymouth Road, with several university-owned buildings for
outpatient care, diagnostics, and outpatient surgery.
In addition to the UM Golf Course on South Campus, the university operates a second golf course called "Radrick Farms Golf
Course" on Geddes Road. The golf course is only open to faculty, staff, and alumni.[47] Another off-campus facility is the Inglis House, which the university has owned
since the 1950s. The Inglis House is a 10,000 square foot (930 m²) mansion used to hold various social events, including meetings
of the board of regents, and to host visiting dignitaries.[48] The university also operates a large office building called Wolverine Tower in southern Ann Arbor
near Briarwood Mall. Another major facility is the Matthaei Botanical
Gardens, which is located on the eastern outskirts of Ann Arbor.
All four campus areas are connected by bus services, the majority of which connect the North and
Central Campuses. There is a shuttle service connecting the University Hospital, which lies between North and Central Campuses,
with other medical facilities throughout northeastern Ann Arbor.[49] The Central and South Campus areas are contiguous, while the North Campus area is separated from
them, primarily by the Huron River.
Central Campus
Hill Auditorium, Burton Tower, and the Rackham Building
Central Campus was the original location of UM when it moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. It originally had a school and dormitory
building (where Mason Hall now stands) and several houses for professors on land bounded by North University Avenue, South
University Avenue, East University Avenue, and State Street.[50] Because Ann Arbor and Central Campus developed simultaneously, there is no distinct boundary
between the city and university, and some areas contain a mixture of private and university buildings. Central Campus is the
location of the College of Literature,
Science and the Arts, and is immediately adjacent to the medical campus. Most of the graduate and professional schools,
including the Ross School of Business and the Law School, are on Central Campus. Ten of the buildings on Central Campus were
designed by Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn between 1904 and 1936. The most
notable of the Kahn-designed buildings are the Burton Memorial Tower and nearby
Hill Auditorium.[51]
North Campus
Much of North Campus has a modern architectural style.
North Campus is the most contiguous campus, built independently from the city on a large plot of farm land — approximately 800
acres (3.25 km²) — that the university bought in 1952.[52] It is newer than Central Campus, and thus has more modern
architecture, whereas most Central Campus buildings are classical or gothic in style. The architect Eero Saarinen, based in Birmingham, Michigan, created one of
the early master plans for North Campus and designed several of its buildings in the 1950s, including the Earl V. Moore School of
Music Building.[53] North and Central Campuses each have
unique bell towers that reflect the predominant architectural styles of their surroundings. Each of the bell towers houses a
grand carillon. North Campus houses the College of Engineering, the Schools of Music, Theater & Dance, and Art and Design, the
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning,
and an annex of the School of Information.
South Campus
South Campus is the site for the athletic programs, including major sports facilities, such as Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena, and Yost Ice Arena. South Campus is also the site of the Buhr library storage facility (the collections of
which are undergoing digitization by Google), the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and the Student Theatre Arts Complex,
which provides shop and rehearsal space for student theatre groups. The university's departments of public safety and
transportation services offices are located on South Campus.
UM's golf course is located south of Michigan Stadium and Crisler Arena. It was designed in the late 1920s by Alister MacKenzie, the designer of Augusta National Golf
Club in Augusta, Georgia (home of The
Masters Tournament).[54] The course opened to the
public in the spring of 1931. The University of Michigan Golf Course was included in a listing of top holes designed by what
Sports Illustrated calls “golf’s greatest course architect.” The UM Golf
Course’s signature No. 6 hole — a 310-yard par 4, which plays from an elevated tee to a two-tiered, kidney-shaped green protected
by four bunkers — is the second hole on the Alister MacKenzie Dream 18 as selected by a five-person panel that includes
three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo and golf course architect Tom Doak. The listing of “the best holes ever designed by Augusta National architect Alister MacKenzie” is
featured in SI’s Golf Plus special edition previewing the Masters in April 4, 2006.
Athletics
-
The University of Michigan's sports teams are called the Wolverines. They participate in
the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formally Division I-A) and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except
men's ice hockey, which competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. In seven of the past ten years, UM has
finished in the top five of the NACDA Director's Cup, a ranking compiled by the
National Association of Collegiate Directors of
Athletics to tabulate the success of universities in competitive sports. UM has finished in the top eleven of the
Directors' Cup standings in each of the award's twelve seasons and has placed in the top six in each of the last eight
seasons.[55]
The UM football program ranks first in NCAA history in both total wins
(860) and winning percentage (.745).[56] The team won the
first Rose Bowl game in 1902, and has the longest current streak of consecutive
bowl game appearances. The last year in which UM did not appear in a bowl was 1974, which was
also the last season in which Big Ten teams other than the champion were not eligible for bowls; UM's last losing season was in
1967. The Wolverines have won a record 42 Big Ten championships, including five in the past decade. The program has eleven
national championships, most recently in 1997,[57] and has produced three Heisman Trophy winners: Tom Harmon, Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson.[58]
Michigan Stadium is the largest college football-only stadium in the world, with an
official capacity of more than 107,501 (the extra seat is said to be "reserved" for Fritz
Crisler[59]) though attendance—frequently over
111,000 spectators—regularly exceeds the official capacity.[60] The NCAA's record-breaking attendance has become commonplace at Michigan Stadium, especially since
the arrival of head coach Bo Schembechler. UM has fierce rivalries with many teams,
including Michigan State, Notre
Dame, and Ohio State, the latter of which has been referred to by
ESPN as the greatest rivalry in American
sports.[61] UM has all-time winning records against Ohio
State University (57-40-6), University of Notre Dame (20-14-1), and Michigan State University (66-28-5).
The men's ice hockey team, which plays at Yost Ice
Arena, has won nine national championships, while the
men's basketball team, which plays at Crisler
Arena, has appeared in four Final Fours and won a
national championship in 1989. However, the program became
involved in a scandal involving payments from a booster during the 1990s. This led to the program being placed on probation for a
four-year period. The program also voluntarily vacated victories from its 1992–1993 and 1995–1999 seasons in which the payments
took place, as well as its 1992 and 1993 Final Four appearances.
Through the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, 178 UM students and coaches had
participated in the Olympics, winning medals in every Summer Olympics except 1896,
and winning gold medals in all but four Olympiads. UM students have won a total of 116
Olympic medals: 54 gold, 27 silver, and 35 bronze.[62]
Student life
Residential life
Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall
- See also: University of Michigan
Housing
The University of Michigan has the sixth-largest campus housing system in the U.S. and the third-largest family housing
operation, accommodating up to 12,562 people.[63] The residence halls are organized into three distinct groups: Central Campus, Hill Area
(between Central Campus and the University of Michigan Medical Center) and North Campus. Family housing is located on North
Campus and mainly serves graduate students. The largest residence hall has a capacity of 1,277 students, while the smallest
accommodates 31 residents.[63] A majority of
upper-class and graduate students live in off-campus apartments, houses, and cooperatives, with the largest concentrations in the Central and South Campus areas. The higher cost
of living in Ann Arbor has prompted some students to live in nearby communities such as Ypsilanti or Plymouth.
The residential system has a number of "living-learning communities" where academic activities and residential life are
combined. These communities focus on areas such as research through the Michigan
Research Community, medical sciences, community service and the
German language.[64] The Michigan Research Community, usually
housed in Mosher-Jordan Hall, is currently located in East Quadrangle (East Quad) due to renovations in its former building. The
Residential College (RC), a living-learning
community that is a division of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, also has its principal instructional space in
East Quad. In 2006, the university approved plans for a new residence complex for 550 students on the northern corner of Central
Campus. When completed, this residence complex will comprise a second living-learning community.[65]
Groups and activities
Michigan Union on Central Campus
There are more than 1150 student clubs and organizations at the university.[66] With a history of student activism, some of the most visible groups include those dedicated to
causes such as civil rights and labor rights. Two of
the most notable of these groups were Students for a Democratic
Society, which recently reformed with a new chapter on campus as of February of 2007, and the Weather Underground. Though the student body generally leans toward left-wing politics, there are also conservative groups, such as YAF, non-partisan groups such as the Roosevelt Institution, and religious groups like "JAAM"
(Jewish Awareness America). Fraternities and sororities, many of which are
located east of Central Campus, play a role in the university's social life. Intramural
sports are popular, and there are recreation facilities for each of the three campuses.[67] There are also several engineering projects teams, including the
University of Michigan Solar Car Team, which placed first in the
American Solar Challenge four times and third in the World Solar Challenge three times.[68] Michigan Interactive Investments, an
investing and finance organization, is also affiliated with the university. The university also showcases many community service
organizations and charitable projects, including SERVE, PROVIDES, Circle K, The Detroit
Project, Habitat for Humanity[69], and Ann Arbor Reaching
Out.
The Michigan Union and Michigan League are student activity centers located on Central
Campus; Pierpont Commons is on North Campus. The Michigan Union houses a majority of student groups, including the student
government. The William Monroe Trotter House, located east of Central Campus, is a multicultural student center operated by the
university's Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs.[70]
The University Activities Center (UAC) is a student-run programming organization and is composed of 15 committees.[71] Each group involves students in the planning and execution
of a variety of events both on and off campus.
The Michigan Marching Band, composed of over 350 students from almost all of
UM's schools,[72] is the university's marching band. Being over 100 years old,[73] the band performs at every home game and travel to at least one away game a year. The student-run
and led University of Michigan Pops Orchestra is another musical
ensemble that attracts students from all academic backgrounds. It performs regularly in the Michigan Theater. The University
of Michigan Men's Glee Club, founded in 1859, is a men's chorus comprised of over 100 members. Its eight member subset
a cappella group, the University of
Michigan Friars, which was founded in 1955, is the oldest currently running a cappella group on campus.[74]
The Michigan Daily is the student-run daily newspaper. Founded in 1890, The
Daily is published five days a week during the normal academic year, and weekly during the spring and summer terms. Other
student publications at the university include the conservative The Michigan
Review, the progressive Michigan Independent, the Michigan Journal of Political Science, and the humor publications The
Michigan Every Three Weekly and the Gargoyle. WCBN (88.3 FM) is a freeform radio station; WOLV-TV is a student-run
television station that is primarily shown on the university's cable television system.
Student government
Anti-Coke banner at the University of Michigan, February 2005. Coca-cola products were briefly banned on campus due to student
groups pressure in 2006.
Housed in the Michigan Union, the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) is the central
student government of the University. With representatives from each of the University's colleges and schools, the MSA represents
students and manages student funds on the campus. The Michigan Student Assembly is a member of the statewide Association of Michigan Universities. In recent years MSA has organized airBus, a
transportation service between campus and the Detroit Metropolitan
Wayne County Airport, and has led the university's efforts to register its student population to vote, with its Voice Your
Vote Commission (VYV) registering 10,000 students in 2004. VYV also works to improve access to non-partisan voting-related
information and increase student voter turnout.[75]
There are student governance bodies in each college and school. The two largest colleges at the University of Michigan are the
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LS&A) and the College of Engineering. Students in the LS&A are represented
by the LS&A Student Government (LSA SG). The University of Michigan Engineering Council (UMEC) manages student government
affairs for the College of Engineering. In addition, the students that live in the residence halls are represented by the
University of Michigan Residence Halls
Association
A longstanding goal of some members of the student government is to create a student designated seat on the Board of Regents,
the university's governing body. Such a designation would achieve parity with other Big Ten schools that have student regents. In
2000, students Nick Waun and Scott Trudeau ran for the board on the state-wide ballot as third-party nominees. Waun ran for a
second time in 2002, along with Matt Petering and Susan Fawcett.[76] Although none of these campaigns has so far been successful, a recent poll shows that most students
consider student activity fees to be taxation without representation on the board. Another poll conducted by the State of
Michigan in 1998 concluded that a majority of Michigan voters would approve of such a position if the measure were put before
them. A change to the board's makeup would require amending the Michigan
Constitution.[77]
Fight song
The University of Michigan's fight song, The
Victors, was written by student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the last-minute
football victory over the University of Chicago that clinched a league
championship. The song was declared by John Philip Sousa as "the greatest college
fight song ever written."[78] The song refers to the
university as being the "Champions of the West". At the time, UM was part of the "Western Conference", which would later become
the Big Ten Conference. Although mainly used at sporting events, the fight song can
be heard at other events that UM competes in. President Gerald Ford had it played as his
entrance anthem in preference over the more traditional Hail to the Chief during his term from 1974 to 1977.[79] The fight song is also sung during graduation commencement
ceremonies. The university's alma mater song is The Yellow and Blue. A common rally
cry is "Let's Go Blue!", written by former students Joseph Carl, a tuba player, and Albert Ahronheim, a drum major.
Notable people and alumni
-
- See also: List of
University of Michigan faculty and staff, President of the
University of Michigan, and Board of Regents of the
University of Michigan
UM has more than 420,000 living graduates.[3] Several astronauts are alumni, including the all-UM crews of Gemini
4 and Apollo 15. UM's contribution to aeronautics also include aircraft designer
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Skunk Works fame. In
addition to the late U.S. president Gerald
Ford, the university has produced twenty-five Rhodes scholars and 116
Olympic medalists, seven Nobel Prize winners, and
Fields medal winner Stephen Smale. UM numbers among
its matriculants sixteen billionaires, as well as a
number of alumni who have founded or co-founded many companies and organizations (see also: List of Entities Founded by University of Michigan
alumni).
Notable writers who attended UM include playwright Arthur Miller, novelist
Betty Smith, screenwriter Judith Guest, Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet Theodore Roethke, authors Charles
Major and Sandra Steingraber, Japanese literature translator Juliet Winters Carpenter and composer/author/puppeteer Forman
Brown. In Hollywood, famous alumni include actor James Earl Jones; actresses Lucy Liu, Selma Blair, and Ruth Hussey; and filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan.
Other UM graduates include TV journalist Mike Wallace, Dana Jacobson and Steve Phillips of ESPN, Rich Eisen of the NFL Network,
entrepreneur Eric Sadek, singer Joe Dassin, former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, Super Bowl MVPs Tom Brady and Desmond Howard, 1997 Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, Google co-founder Larry
Page, conservative pundit Ann Coulter, acclaimed taxation and professional
responsibility scholar Katherine Lee Johnson, assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian,
USC Trojan Marching Band director Dr. Arthur C.
Bartner, Weather Underground radical activist Bill Ayers,[80] activist
Tom Hayden, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski,
architect Charles Moore, famous avant-garde painter Aethelred Eldridge, Mannheim Steamroller founder
Chip Davis, the Swedish Holocaust hero Raoul
Wallenberg, and Benjamin D. Pritchard, the Civil War general who captured
Jefferson Davis.[81] Pop singer Madonna, professional baseball player
Derek Jeter, and rock legend Iggy Pop attended but did not
graduate. Clarence Darrow, one of the leading attorneys in the U.S., attended the Law
School at a time when many lawyers did not receive any formal education. Sa
