The University of Michigan’s
enrollment hit an unprecedented
high
of
more
than
50,000
students in Fall 2021, according
to a release from the University
Record.
University
President
Mark
Schlissel
spoke
about
the
increased University enrollment
at the University of Michigan
Board of Regents meeting the
evening of Oct. 21.
“This fall’s first year class on
the Ann Arbor campus is our
largest ever, and our student
body for the campus is more
than 50,000 for the first time in
history,” Schlissel said. “Demand
for a Michigan education is at
record highs.”
This fall, the number of
freshman
student
applicants
rose by about 15,000, reaching
a total of 79,743. 16,071 were
offered admission, representing
a 20% acceptance rate. In 2020,
the acceptance rate was 26%.
7,290, or 45%, of accepted
applicants chose to enroll at the
University — 400 more than the
previous year, which saw a 41%
enrollment rate of those who
were offered admission.
There was a 3% increase in
total undergraduate enrollment
this semester, going from 31,329
enrollees last year to 32,282
enrollees this year. The number
of graduate and professional
school enrollees reached 17,996
this year, rising from a previous
enrollment of 16,578.
Within the new class, about
37% of students identify as
persons of color, compared to
34% of students last year. Latinx
student enrollment saw a 48%
increase from 433 last year
to 640 this fall. Black student
enrollment rose from 305 last
year to 404 this fall — a rise of
about 32%.
Student
organizations
on
campus
have
criticized
the
University’s
low
Black
and
Latinx enrollment numbers —
particularly in January when
the University discontinued the
Provost Award, which provided
full
demonstrated
need
for
some
out-of-state
students.
Latinx students make up 9%
of the current freshman class,
compared to 6% last year. While
Black students make up 6%
of the current freshman class
compared to 4% last year.
Out of this term’s freshman
class, around 50% reside in-state,
while 45% are domestic out-of-
state and 5% international.
Additionally, there was an 8%
rise in transfer students from last
year. The freshman and transfer
classes
combined
include
students
from
77
Michigan
counties, all 50 states, five U.S.
territories and 70 countries.
In the Record article, Adele
Brumfield,
vice
provost
for
enrollment
management,
attributed this rise in enrollment
to virtual recruitment events and
the University’s early decision to
have Fall 2021 classes in person.
Brumfield also highlighted the
importance of financial aid in
promoting student enrollment.
“The university is committed
to providing generous financial
resources, which allows more
students to choose U-M and
thrive once they arrive here,”
Brumfield
said.
“With
the
admissions season for fall 2022
in full swing, we’re looking to
the future and recruiting the
next talented and diverse class of
Wolverines.”
The University of Michigan
endowment grew 40.6% for
fiscal
year
2021,
totaling
to $17 billion on June 20,
2021, Geoffrey Chatas, U-M
executive vice president and
chief financial officer, told the
University of Michigan Board
of Regents at their Oct. 21
meeting.
Despite
the
significant
growth,
Chatas
said
it
is
important to look for context
beyond short-term gains.
“We’re very pleased with the
strong performance,” Chatas
said. “It was as recently as
2016 that the endowment went
down in value, and last year,
the long-term portfolio that
the endowment is invested in
gained only 2.3%.”
The University’s endowment
is the ninth largest in the
country and third among public
universities, according to the
University Record. Over 12,000
separate
endowment
funds
make up the U-M endowment,
of which funds are specifically
designated for scholarships,
educational
programs,
research and professorships.
Ahead of the Fall 2020
semester, the Regents voted to
increase tuition by 1.9% for the
2020-2021 school year, drawing
backlash from students and
parents who pointed to the
endowment as a way to avoid
the increase during COVID-
19. The decision was widely
circulated on social media,
with many saying they were
shocked at the tuition increase.
At the meeting, the board
also voted to name the new
163,000-square-foot
building
set to be on North Campus the
Leinweber Computer Science
and Information Building in
appreciation of the Leinweber
Foundation
and
software
entrepreneur Larry Leinweber,
who contributed $25 million to
support construction.
The
new
center,
costing
around $145 million, will be
home to both the School of
Information and the College
of
Engineering’s
computer
science
and
engineering
programs. The building aims
to bridge the geographical gap
between those in the School of
Information and the Computer
Science
and
Engineering
division of the College of
Engineering.
Tom Baird, vice president
for development, thanked the
Leinweber
Foundation
for
their donation.
“The
Leinweber
family
members have been wonderful
volunteers and advocates for
the University of Michigan for
many ,many years … (including)
creating
the
Leinweber
Software
Scholars
Program
at Michigan Engineering and
establishing
the
Leinweber
Center for Theoretical Physics
in LSA,” Baird said.
University President Mark
Schlissel also announced a
series of new funding to build
the Innovation and Technology
Center at U-M Flint which will
serve as a base for the recently
added College of Innovation
and Technology. Schlissel said
this investment would help
both the U-M Flint community
and the greater Flint region.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
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Enrollment tops 50,000
for first time in history
NAVYA GUPTA
Daily Staff Reporter
CAMPUS LIFE
University of Michigan
endowment grows 40.6%
Funds now valued at $17 billion as of June 2021
New class is more diverse than the previous one
JUSTIN O’BEIRNE &
JULIA FORREST
Daily Staff Reporters
Ann Arbor School Parents Intent
on Racial Equity met virtually with
members of the Ann Arbor Public
Schools Board of Education Oct.
19 to discuss the district’s equity
plan and what parents said were its
flaws in protecting Black and brown
students in the district.
AASPIRE is a group of parents,
caregivers, community leaders and
educators who advocate for racial
equity within AAPS. They work
to eliminate the achievement and
opportunity gaps and to improve
the educational experience for Black
and brown students in the school
district.
The AAPS equity plan, released
in January 2019, contains five
main areas of focus: perpetuating
systems of equity and opportunity;
promoting
equity-centered
leadership; systemic transformation
of culture; equity-centered school
and classroom practices; and family
and community empowerment.
Oct. 19’s meeting comes after
numerous allegations of racism
within AAPS surfaced earlier this
year. Pioneer High School faces
allegations of racial hostility after
an AAPS student sent a letter to the
district through the Civil Rights
Litigation Initiative, a Michigan Law
student-run clinic. The letter, which
listed three demands to dismantle
institutional racism in response to
the racial hostility multiple students
faced at Pioneer, prompted AAPS to
offer multiple statements promising
to begin an investigation to address
these allegations.
“The stories of the indignities they
have suffered at Pioneer because of
their race are heart-wrenching and
disturbing,” the CRLI letter reads.
“We write this long letter to amplify
their voices and to strongly urge you
to redress the systemic racism at
Pioneer. Black Lives Matter.”
AASPIRE criticizes the equity
plan, calling it a performative act
for racial equity. They said the plan
puts the blame on Black and brown
children for their performance at
school, fails to specify accountability
measures or assign responsibilities,
does not offer a timeframe for
completion and does not state the
problem it is trying to solve.
Board members Bryan Johnson,
Jessica Kelly and Krystle DuPree
were present at the meeting.
When asked what BOE’s role was
in constructing the equity plan,
Johnson said though various AAPS
stakeholders contributed to the
equity plan, they are responsible
for
setting
guidance
for
the
superintendent and steering the
district strategy that captures the
values of the district.
“There were members of the
cabinet and teachers and other
equity teams across the district that
put in a lot of work to create an equity
plan,” Johnson said. “They then
send it to the Board of Education to
talk about it and look to see if there
are things that were missing, and to
approve it for a public unveiling.”
When asked about the timeline
for
implementing
the
equity
plan, Johnson said the pandemic
has slowed the process. They
are currently revising the plan,
according to Johnson.
“In terms of the rollout, when
the community could be engaged,
that was actually going to be in
March of 2020, with the 2020-2021
school year as the goal to roll that
out,” Johnson said. “Just as we were
doing that, that’s when we had a new
reality, which was COVID-19.”
Some Ann Arbor Public Schools parents,
educators criticize district’s equity plan
AASPIRE says proposal is performative, not specific enough on timeframe
CAROLINE WANG
Daily Staff Reporter
SOPHIA AFENDOULIS/Daily
Some Ann Arbor Public Schools community members say equity plan does not adequately address racial inequity within the district.
See EQUITY PLAN, Page 2
See ENROLLMENT, page 3
More than 100 University of
Michigan
students
protested
for climate justice on the after-
noon of Oct. 22 as part of a class
walkout organized by Fridays for
Future, a global youth movement
committed to striking for stron-
ger climate policies.
During
the
protest,
stu-
dent activists presented a list
of demands to the University,
including that they declare a cli-
mate emergency and fully divest
from fossil fuels. At the Board of
Regents meeting last March, the
University committed to divest-
ing from companies with the
largest greenhouse gas contri-
butions and to achieving a net-
zero endowment by 2050. This
vote came after years of activism
from student groups on campus
who called on the University to
take immediate action to reach
carbon neutrality and divest-
ment.
Students
at
the
protest
marched across campus, looping
around North University Ave-
nue, State Street and South Uni-
versity Avenue. As they walked
near the Law Quad, many stu-
dent
protesters
stopped
by
Schlissel’s house, showing sup-
port for the survivors of sexual
abuse from late University ath-
letic doctor Robert Anderson.
For more than a week, for-
mer University football player
Jonathan Vaughn, a survivor
of Anderson, has staged a sit-in
outside of Schlissel’s house to
demand that the University cre-
ate stronger protections for sur-
vivors of sexual abuse and meet
with Anderson’s victims.[
During their march, students
repeated “No more coal, no more
oil, keep that carbon in the soil,”
“Hey hey, ho ho, climate change
has got to go” and “Exxon Mobil,
BP, Shell: take your filth and go
to hell.”
LSA sophomore Lexi Crilley,
who serves on the Students for
Clean Energy‘s policy team, read
the demands at the protest.
“We’re tired of the Univer-
sity’s goals to make more goals,”
Crilley said. “The endless empty
promises of the institution. So
until these demands are met, we
will continue striking. We’ll keep
protesting.”
LSA senior Elena Swirczek
spoke to the crowd about the
role of hope in combating cli-
mate change. She said it can be
difficult to feel optimistic in the
face of worsening news about
the climate, such as the report
published this year by the Unit-
ed Nations’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change that
found that human-created cli-
mate change will raise the globe’s
temperature by 1.5 to 2.0 dur-
ing the 21st century “unless deep
reductions in CO2 and other
greenhouse gas emissions occur
in the coming decades.”
Swirczek said despite these
grim predictions, a “doom and
gloom” attitude can lead to inac-
tion.
“Hope is an action that can be
constant, even when the feeling
is not,” Swirczek said. “Because
if we don’t take any action, we’ve
already lost.”
Swirczek urged the protes-
tors not to feel like they have
to be perfect activists to bring
about progress. Instead, she said,
they should focus on working
together to demand system-wide
changes.
“Find the people building
power and join them,” Swirczek
said.
UMich students stage walkout
for climate policies, justice
More than 100 march across campus, demand more University action
ELI FRIEDMAN &
NIRALI PATEL
Daily Staff Reporters
JEREMY WEINE/Daily
After gathering in front of the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library, students and other climate strikers march around the Diag’s perimeter cheering and chanting Friday Oct. 22.
See ENDOWMENT, page 3
Read more at MichiganDaily.com