2C — Fall 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Game over for Michigan Time

LSA sophomore Lexi Michaels 
wasn’t expecting to be late to her 
Psychology 280 exam. In fact, 
she thought she was early. But 
when she walked into the testing 
accommodations room a few 
minutes after 2:30 — she’d run 
there right from her last class — 
she realized the exam was not 
being administered on Michigan 
time, and everyone else had 
already started.
“My expectation was that 
it would (start on Michigan 
time), 
because 
that’s 
what 
most of my classes and exams 
start on, even if they’re in a 
testing accommodations room,” 
Michaels said. “And it didn’t. I 
walked in really flustered. I was 
like, ‘Are they going to let me take 
the exam?’”
After 
the 
initial 
scare, 
everything turned out fine for 
Michaels. She was still given a 
full two hours to take her exam, 
and no one was angry at her for 
coming in late. However, start 
time confusion is common at the 
University of Michigan, and the 
administration has decided it’s 
time to take action.
Starting May 1, no University 
classes will run on Michigan 
time, the 10 minute late-start built 
into most undergraduate classes 
at the University. Michigan time 
is a University tradition that 
dates back to the 1930s. Students 
and professors used to time their 
classes according to the chimes of 
the Burton Tower at the beginning 
of each hour, and Michigan time 
was officially adopted to allow 
students to get from class to class 
without being late. Now, to allow 
for students to get to back-to-back 
classes, all classes will stop 10 
minutes before the hour.
Though administrators have 
been talking about removing 
Michigan time for many years 
now — University Provost Martin 
Philbert said there have been 
conversations since he came to 
the University in 1995 — this is the 
first time anything conclusive has 
passed. The change will start in 
May for the Spring and Summer 
terms, so any unexpected kinks 

can be worked out before the Fall 
2018 semester.
“The freshmen will come in 
not knowing a time we had it,” 
Philbert said.
 According to Philbert, it was a 
“tradition born out of necessity.”
Now, 
however, 
some 
see 
the 
once-crucial 
tradition 
as a hindrance. Many newer 
University schools never adopted 
it, and Patricia Hurn, dean of the 
School of Nursing, told The Daily 
in an email Michigan time was 
never an option for the Nursing 
School.
“The major reason our classes 
have not used Michigan Time 
is because we are a clinical 
discipline,” Hurn wrote. “So we 
very early on aligned our class 
times, specifically the on-the-
hour start time, with the time 
of our clinical partners. None 
of these partners recognize or 
utilize ‘Michigan time.’”
Problems 
arise 
when 
University units aren’t operating 
on synchronized schedules, and 
because programs like Nursing 
don’t have the option of Michigan 
time, Philbert thinks going to 
“clock time” is the most logical 
course of action.
One of the major issues the new 
system aims to fix is the shortage 
of 
classrooms. 
When 
some 
schools are on Michigan time and 

others are not, classrooms are 
unavailable for up to 10 minutes at 
the end of the hour.
“We have the need for more 
classrooms,” 
Philbert 
said. 
“We have more sections, which 
require more rooms, and some of 
these rooms require specialized 
services. So by aligning time, we 
free up the number and types of 
classrooms available.”
University 
spokesman 
Rick 
Fitzgerald said the University is 
also hoping the switch will make 
collaboration 
among 
different 
schools and departments easier.
“I’d say one of the hallmarks 
of our campus is cross-University 
collaboration,” Fitzgerald said. 
“From school and colleges and 
departments 
and 
different 
units who are constantly cross-
pollinating all of our efforts, and 
this really facilitates that… We’re 
just eliminating one of those 
stumbling blocks.”
Though there are clear benefits 
for faculty and administrators, 
students are uncertain about the 
upcoming change. Michaels, even 
after her exam confusion, thinks 
Michigan time works well. She’s 
concerned professors will have a 
difficult time stopping 10 minutes 
short of the hour.
“I really like Michigan time. 
I think it makes so much sense, 
especially when you have back-

to-back classes,” she said. “It gets 
your day rolling. I think that (this 
new system) is just a cause for 
disaster. I think that professors 
are way more aware of starting 10 
minutes late because they haven’t 
started yet, but if they have to end 
10 minutes early, they’re not going 
to know to stop.”
While Michaels understands 
this could eventually be a good 
system, the thought of working 
through 
the 
transition 
next 
semester is daunting.
“It’s going to be a huge 
transition and it’s going to mess 
a lot of people up with their 
schedules,” Michaels said. “I don’t 
think this is a good idea, but that’s 
just because I’m used to Michigan 
time and I think that this is 
working well so I don’t see why 
you should change what’s already 
working and what people like.”
On the other hand, Philbert 
said he’s received a lot of positive 
feedback about the change from 
students and faculty.
“Especially 
through 
Vice 
President Royster’s office, we 
have worked with many student 
organizations,” Philbert said. “In 
my experience there’s been an 
enormous sigh of relief that we’re 
all going to be operating on the 
same expectations of starting and 
finishing.”

Students call out CSG 
guide as unreasonable

The University of Michigan’s 
Central Student Government 
released 
a 
Campus 
Affordability Guide Saturday 
and 
has 
since 
received 
backlash from many members 
of the student body. The online 
publication was widely touted 
as a “guide to cost-effective 
living 
at 
the 
University,” 
and lists a few dozen tips for 
students to cut down on costs 
in the face of rising living 
costs. 
Suggestions such as cutting 
down 
on 
housekeeping 
services, laundry delivery or 
limiting 
impulse 
purchases 
left 
low-income 
students 
incredulous. 
In a Facebook post that has 
been shared 27 times as of 
Thursday evening, LSA senior 
Zoe Proegler expressed her 
dissatisfaction with the way 
CSG approached affordability 
on campus.
“We all know Ann Arbor is 
expensive,” Proegler wrote. 
“Guides 
like 
this, 
which 
lecture 
to 
lower 
income 
students about how rich people 
think poor people can change 
a couple habits (or lightbulbs?) 
and not be poor anymore, do 
not help. Rather, they’re a slap 
in the face to people who fight 
every day to be here.”
A 2016 demographic self-
survey 
conducted 
by 
CSG 
in 2016 found 74.4 percent 
of its members come from 
households that earn over 
$100,000 a year, and 37.2 
percent 
have 
household 
incomes of over $250,000. 
According to a recent report, 
the 
University 
ranks 
last 
in economic mobility when 
compared to other top-ranked 
public universities.
“It was really immediate, 
the way that it hit me — 

something 
about 
the 
tone 
being 
off,” 
Proegler 
later 
said in an interview. “As I 
was reading it, it didn’t seem 
like 
something 
that 
had 
really taken into account the 
problems 
of 
students 
who 
are 
experiencing 
absolute 
issues with accessibility and 
affordability. It didn’t read like 
something that would actually 
be working towards improving 
accessibility for students who 
need it, and for CSG to push it 
that way was upsetting.”
Proegler brought up the 
specific points mentioned in 
the article, some of which 
she felt were out of touch and 
potentially dangerous to the 
students who would benefit 
most from this guide.
“It comes up twice in those 
first 50 points that students 
should get rid of cleaning or 
laundry service subscriptions 
in order to save money,” she 
said. “That, to me, doesn’t 
sound 
like 
they’re 
really 
addressing students who they 
intended to be targeting with 
that. The whole guide seemed 
to put CSG at a disadvantage 
in communicating what they 
were trying to do. There’s 
no way you can explain to 
somebody 
what 
a 
balance 
transfer is in two sentences. 
And to attempt to do so, is I 
think, grossly negligent.”
In a comment on Proegler’s 
Facebook 
post, 
CSG 
Vice 
President Nadine Jawad wrote 
she thought the numerous 
comments 
critiquing 
the 
guide 
misrepresented 
her 
years spent working with Ann 
Arbor City Council members, 
students and programs, such 
as the Ginsberg Center, in 
order to present options for 
students to live in Ann Arbor 
on a budget.

RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter

ROSEANNE CHAO / DAILY

Bicentennial event HAILstorm! reflects on 
University history in fall festival finale

Students, 
faculty 
and 
community 
members 
gathered together in Ingalls 
Mall to watch HAILstorm! 
on Friday night, the 3-D light 
show that paid tribute to the 
University of Michigan’s 200 
year legacy. The show was 
projected on the outside of 
the Rackham Building, and 
was deemed the pinnacle of 
the University of Michigan 
Bicentennial 
Celebrations. 
It 
was 
produced 
by 
the 
Bicentennial 
Office, 
Bluewater Technologies and 
Maxin10sity, and featured 
a wide variety of high-tech 
graphics 
and 
animation. 
Along 
with 
the 
show, 
there was music, food and 
festivities for spectators to 
enjoy. 
Gary 
Krenz, 
executive 
director of the University 
of Michigan Bicentennial, 
explained 
the 
goal 
of 

HAILstorm! 
was 
to 
take 
people through the history 
of the University with an 

exciting presentation.
“It’s 
a 
3-D 
projection 
mapping 
light 
show 
on 
the 
façade 
of 
Rackham,” 
Krenz said. “It’s going to 
incorporate all kinds of stuff 
from the history, present 
and future of U of M-lots of 
lights, lots of motion, a huge 
amount of energy. People are 
really going to enjoy it.”
Krenz also reflected on the 

Bicentennial celebrations as 
a whole. He discussed how 
even though the University 

enjoys showcasing all the 
good it has accomplished 
over the last 200 years, 
it’s also important to come 
together as a community to 
understand the areas where 
the institution fell short.
“When 
you 
reach 
an 
anniversary like this, you 
really can pull the whole 
community 
together 
to 
reflect,” Krenz said. “Part of 
this is to celebrate how great 

we are, but part of it is also 
to think about where we’ve 
made some mistakes, and 
how do we think about that 
as we go forward.”
Rackham student Kaitlyn 
Portal 
echoed 
Krenz’s 
statement about the value 
of bringing the community 
together. She also pointed 
out recent racist incidents on 
campus show the University 
still has areas it needs to 
improve on.
“I like the way that they 
focused on bringing the U 
of M community together, 
and 
identified 
ways 
that 
we can improve ourselves-
especially recently with the 
racial events on campus,” 
Portal said. “I think the 
campus still has issues it 
needs to work on. But, I 
think events like tonight’s 
really show us how we come 
together as a community.”
Along 
with 
areas 
for 
improvement, 
LSA 
senior 
Aiya Saad was very impressed 
with 
the 
Bicentennial 
showcase of new technology 
the University is developing. 
Saad explained she looks 
forward 
to 
seeing 
the 
diverse range of innovations 
University 
students 
and 
faculty create.
“I hope Michigan keeps 
doing what they’re doing. 
I’ve seen a lot of what people 
have been working on in 
different areas of campus, 
and I was so amazed. I hope 
to see more of that going 
forward,” Saad said.
Krenz 
hopes 
the 
Bicentennial 
celebrations 
allowed people to reflect 
on the University’s legacy, 
understand the challenges 
it 
has 
faced 
and 
obtain 
a 
stronger 
historical 
awareness going forward. 
ALEC COHEN / DAILY
The concluding projection of the University of Michigan bicentennial logo at the HAILstorm light show on Ingalls Mall 
October 27, 2017.

AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

“I think the campus still has issues it 
needs to work on. But, I think events 
like tonight’s really show us how we 
come together as a community.”

MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily News Editor