The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 10, 2008-5A
Banished from the Big House
MSA REPRESENTATIVESV. 1
One way to speak out
The University of Michigan
familyhas called the Big House
home for generations. Not only
is it home to the winningest
football program in college
football history, it is also the
greatest symbol of Michigan
tradition.
The decision to hold the
2008 Spring Commencement
ceremony away from the Big
House and away from our
campus is unacceptable to stu-
dents. We are disappointed to
see the lack of student input
and disregard for this crown-
ing celebration of our achieve-
ments. As members of the
Michigan Student Assembly,
we are equally outraged by the
lack of foresight demonstrated
by the University.
We are actively engaging
the University administration
and seeking a solution to this
problem. We will fight to have
ALEXANDER HONKALA
the University re-evaluate
every possible option. In this
re-evaluation process, there
must be greater transparen-
cy and a strong united voice.
There is strength in numbers,
and even for students not in
the Class of 2008 the Univer-
sity's final decision will have
an effect.
As Wolverines, we all look
forward to our chance to walk
across the stage and sing "The
Victors" one last time as stu-
dents in the Big House.
Join the effort and sign the
petition to force the Univer-
sity to honor this Michigan
tradition. Sign it at: www.big-
housegraduation.com.
MSA Rep. Gibran Baydoun,
MSA Rep. Stella Binkevich,
MSA Vice President Nate Fink,
Former MSA Rep. Jen Hsu
KATE TRUESDELL
A Michigi
I can remember as a child
pulling on boots, mittens,
snowpants and atleast20 other
pounds of winter gear, making
the journey to Ann Arbor and
sitting outside for hours in the
snowy weather as the scent of
Wild Turkey whiskey wafted
through the air - all to watch
my first Michigan football
game. This was my introduc-
tion to the University, the first
encounter in my long and com-
plicated relationship.
My family has been literally
bred, born and raised maize
and blue - my grandparents
met as students here, as did my
parents. Being the black sheep
of the family, I wasn't so will-
ing to accept this legacy simply
because it was expected.
After freshman year at the
University, I made the scan-
dalous decision to transfer to
Michigan State University.
My family is Catholic but their
true religious affiliation is
Wolverine, and this decision
was tantamount to breaking
a sacred covenant. They came
to accept and support my deci-
sion during my first semester
in East Lansing, but in that
same span of time I came
to realize that I wanted to
return.
I made this decision not
simply because of tradi-
tion; I knew that here I
would receive an education
that has been heralded as
one of the best in the coun-
try and the world. I didn't
return simply because of
our football (that relationship
has been rocky at best). I knew
that here I would have the
chance to learn with students
from across the world with
infinitely unique and valuable
perspectives to offer.
I am a Wolverine not simply
because I was born to be; I
am a Wolverine because
, I chose to be. I didn't
in ending
return simply because I love
Ann Arbor, this little hippie
haven. I returned because,
even though this school con-
tinues to kick my ass, I knew
all the hard work would pay
off that day I finally walked
across the stage to accept my
diploma in the Big House, the
same place where the Univer-
sity and I first met.
But now I'm being told that
that isn't going to happen.
My desire to graduate at
Michigan Stadium has nothing
to do with athletics. The place
is iconic. It stands for some-
thing. For many, including
myself, it represents a long and
strong history that has always
characterized the University.
But more importantly it repre-
sents the tremendous struggle
and accomplishment over
the past years for graduating
seniors. Our battle was fought
here on this ground, not miles
away on another campus. This
is where we should graduate.
The death of Bo Schem-
bechler last year and the
retirement of football head
coach Lloyd Carr this year has
been a tremendous blow to the
spirit of the football program
because these two individuals
truly represented Michigan
football. Now,withcommence-
ment being moved from the Big
House to another university's
campus, I can't help wonder-
ing if the rest of the University
is starting to follow suit. For
this reason, I ask everyone --
seniors, other undergraduates
and the campus community
at large - to join together to
speak out against moving com-
mencement. Show the Univer-
sity administration that being,
a Wolverine still means some-
thing.
Kate Truesdell is an LSA
senior and a member of the
Daily's editorial board.
JUHI AGGARWAL
We want answers
Shocked, hurt and confused.
That was my initial reaction
to hearing the news late Tues-
day night about the decision to
move Spring Commencement to
Eastern Michigan University's
Rynearson Stadium. I suspect
that many of my fellow seniors
felt the same way. Without fur-
ther explanation from the Uni-
versity administration, we may
never move past that initial
reaction.
Within 12 hours of my
launching an informative web-
site (bighouse08.blogspot.com),
more than 40 other students as
well as some parents and alum-
ni contacted me seeking further
information and clarifications.
Like me, they were upset and
wanted to take action. Over the
next few days, we will create
a forum for students to voice
their opinions and questions,
and we will take our concerns
to the administration with a
unified voice.
I don't want to picket the
Fleming Administration Build-
ing. Nor do Iwish to bea divisive
force between the administra-
tion and the students. However,
I am not content to sit back and
complain about what "they" did
and demand that "someone" do
"something."
As four years of living and
loving Ann Arbor and the Uni-
versity draw to a close, I seek
understanding. A detailed
explanation of the decision-
making process that took place
over the last month is neces-
sary. We need transparency.
The administration, I am
sure, has weighed the pros and
cons of moving the ceremony
off-campus. They are forced to
walk a fine line between a long-
standing tradition, doing what
is financially feasible and con-
sidering the wishes of the fam-
ily members and friends who
eagerly anticipate commence-
ment as much as graduates do.
Administrators claim that they
only found out about these con-
struction plans in mid-Decem-
ber, and I'm sure blame could
be shifted around to, the con-
struction contractors as well.
Yet where is the evidence of
this careful decision-making?
Why was the situation only rec-
ognized last month? Was this
year's commencement not on
the calendars? To what degree
were students involved in this
decision, and how was student
reaction considered? I would
like these questions answered.
Once these questions are
answered, the decision to hold
commencement off-campus
must be re-evaluated. It may be
possible, though costly, to make
part of the Big House useable
with power generators, porta-
ble restrooms and an accessible
seating area on the field itself.
If the ceremony as current-
ly planned will be shown on
screens in Crisler Arena, why
can't a similar plan accommo-
date guests who would be with-
out seats in a mid-renovation
Big House?
I am responding with sug-
gestions to the points of con-
tention the administration has
referenced; I would have more
substantial responses had the
administration provided more
substantial reasoning.
I want a chance to be on my
university's field as I graduate
with the entire class of 2008, to
look up and know my family is
somewhere in the stands. Like
my peers, I have been eagerly
awaiting my turn to walk with
pride as I graduate from the
University. If the administra-
tion says I must do it at Rynear-
son Stadium, they'll need to
convince me first.
Juhi Aggarwal is an LSA
senior and creator of the blog
"Michigan Graduation 2008
... Not at the Big House?".
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L ETT ER S'TTEEITORSEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
As alumni students
should not donate
TO THE DAILY:
I have spent at least the last
decade fantasizing about the day I
would graduate in the Big House.
Imagine my surprise to see the
Daily's storyyesterday that gradu-
ation would not be held there.
I had two immediate thoughts.
First, why is the University going
on with a construction project
that is currently in limbo because
of litigation by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice and a veterans'
rights group? Second, how does a
construction project whose sched-
ule had recently been set possibly
interfere with an event that had
been known for years?
I looked forward to my final
moment at this University during
whichIcould celebrate my modest
achievements and a bright future
with my family and friends in the
stadium where I have spent some
of my happiest and most exciting
moments. While the place where
yougraduate is insignificant inthe
long run, the symbolism is impor-
tant to me and I am sure to many of
my peers. It is this symbolism that
drives my desire to walk down the
bleachers painted in the maize
and blue of my beloved college
instead of the green and white of
an institution whose name means
nothing beyond the border of this
stagnant state.
This is the straw that broke
the camel's back. I intend never
to donate directly to this institu-
tion after I graduate. I only hope
that my peers will join me so the
University remembers that its
primary mission is to research
and educate, which is made pos-
sible by alumni donors. Students
become these donors, and we are
the ones to whom the University
must cater.
If nothing else, the University
must allow us to graduate with
dignity at our beloved Big House
- before its great mutilation.
Kevin Wilson
LSA senior
A disappointment
0 forparents too
TO THE DAILY:
I am writing to voice my dis-
pleasure over the news that the
Big House will not be available
for my daughter's commence-
ment in April. While this is
an incredible disappointment
already, to hear the news that
students will not graduate on
their campus is obscene.
I have paid more than $130,000
for my daughter's out-of-state
tuition. To be told four months
before graduation and not to
be notified formally by mail is
unthinkable. I am deeply puzzled
bywhy the University administra-
tion cannot find an alternative to
the Big House that is on campus.
If I had wanted her to graduate at
Eastern Michigan University, I
would have sent her there, where
they allow Ohio residents to pay
in-state tuition instead of the out-
of-state tuition we paid at Uni-
versity of Michigan.
Certainly, on a campus of more
than 41,000 enrolled students,
there must be some place to hold
commencementto give this year's
graduates the same send off as
those who have graduated from
the University before them.
Please reconsider this decision
and give our students the com-
mencement they deserve.
Leslie McNamara
The letter writer is the parentofa Uni-
versity student.
EMUwiIl be unique,
get oVer yourselves
TO THE DAILY:
I wish to submit my support for
the University's decision to hold
commencement at a site that can
accommodate enough people.
It will be a great story to tell for
years to come: How this year's
senior class was the only in recent
memory to hold commencement
off campus.
David Freiman
School ofMusic, Theatre andDance
senior
Would Coleman
want office in Ypsi?
TO THE DAILY:
I respect the fact that there is
construction going on in the Big
House. I respect the fact that
the University has to accommo-
date more than 6,000 graduating
seniors. I only wish the Univer-
sity would respect my desire to
have a proper graduation. I grew
up in a University of Michigan
family and saw my brothers and
cousins graduate from this uni-
versity. I saw these commence-
ments from the comfort of a seat
at the Big House. If you recall,
this is a seat I paid more than
$200 to sit in at football games
each year I've been a student
here. I do not want my last mem-
oryofthe Universityof Michigan
to be in Ypsilanti.
I ask you University President
Mary Sue Coleman, how can you
rob us of our last Michigan expe-
rience? What if they put your
office in Ypsilanti?
Meghan O'Neill
LSA senior
Green and white
don't make blue
TO THE DAILY:
I was outraged to discover that
the University's Class of 2008
won't be graduating at Michigan
Stadium, or even on our own cam-
pus. As if it weren't bad enough
that our iconic stadium is going to
be marred with ugly, costly sky-
boxes, we are now being pushed
off our own campus for what is
supposed to be the zenith of our
time at the University.
The Big House represents much
more than a practical venue to
hold the University's thousands of
graduates and guests - for most
of us it has been an emblem of our
college careers since the moment
we got here. We've worked hard
here in Ann Arbor and expected
to at least be able to graduate on
our own campus.
It's nothing personal East-
ern Michigan: But no amount of
"maize and blue-ing" at Rynear-
son Stadium will make us feel at
home.
Jane Elizabeth Braun
LSA senior
Priority must be
students, not money
TO THE DAILY:
During winter break, I spoke
with my family and friends about
higher education. Some claimed
that universities care solely about
money, using donations and
tuition to fund private projects
that boost reputations. I disagreed
with these people and defended
the University of Michigan spe-
cifically, believingthat the admin-
istration uses its money to help
better the campus environment
for its students.
Unfortunately, the University
took a step that makes me ques-
tion this belief - the relocation
of Spring Commencement. I find
it hard to believe that this detail
would remain unnoticed during
the years of debate about addi-
tion of the luxury boxes to the
Big House. I can understand that
moving graduation might have
been necessary. However, why
is it that this information was
only revealed now? Were any
students consulted before mak-
ing these rearrangements? Is
Eastern Michigan University, an
institution that shares little more
than proximity to the Univer-
sity of Michigan, really the best
available option? The University
did not reach out to the students
affected by this event.
For a university that prides
itself on leadership and concern
for its students, I think that the
poor decisions and lack of com-
munication shown yesterday by
the administration suggests that
perhaps my critics were right:
Maybe priority number one is our
checkbooks.
Layne Scherer
LSA senior
football more than academics, but.
this is beyond ridiculous. The con-
struction plans are going to take
until August 2010 to complete. If
the work can't be held off until the
Monday after Spring Commence-
ment, then certainly it could have
been scheduled in a way that the
graduation crowd could have still
been accommodated. If restrooms
are the issue, leave a few bath-
rooms open or rent some portable
bathrooms for a weekend.
These renovations seem more
important than properly honor-
ing the University's graduates on
the campus of which they are so
proud. I assume football will still
continue in the next few seasons
during construction, showing that
football is more important than the
current students and alumni, both
of which have financially support-
ed this construction and cheer for
the players who won't be inconve-
nienced by this project.
To properly honor its gradu-
ates, the Big House is the only
venue appropriate for commence-
ment. The University owes stu-
dents this.
Catherine Herzog
LSA senior
Snafu telling of
misguided project
season on time than allowing our
graduates, who have worked so
diligently for years, to graduate
at the institution they have come
to know and love. Graduation is
the culmination of a student's
most intensive educational
endeavors: To force that joyous
occasion to occur anywhere
other than the university at
which that student has labored,
played and grown as a person is
unacceptable.
Samantha Walls
Kinesiology senior
Tradition atBig
House mustprevail
TO THE DAILY:
At the University, we pride
ourselves in tradition. The
announcement that commence-
ment will not be held at Michi-
gan Stadium is a slap in the face.
The University Board of Regents
needs to sympathize with the
students and push back major
stadium construction until after
graduation. If they are plan-
ning to change the tradition of
our stadium, the house that Yost
built, please do not change the
commencement tradition.
I owe everythingto this univer-
sity, but I refuse to end my years
here at Michigan like this. With
student, faculty and community
support, we can change this deci-
sion. Please voice your opinion.
Don't let the Class of 2008 be
cheated out of the greatest tradi-
tion in Michigan history.
Rachel Embree
LSA senior
TO THE DAILY:
Having to hold graduation at
U'dtdn'tforget to a completely different university
is just one more reason why con-
plan forfootball struction on Michigan Stadium
was an ill-conceived and poorly-
TO THE DAILY: planned project. It is shame that
I've always shrugged off jokes in we are more concerned with
the past about Michigan favoring being able to start the football