4 — Graduation Edition 2022
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

S

ince I started studying at 
the University of Michigan, 
I have become more and 
more familiar with Washtenaw 
County’s 
primarily 
rural 
character: its winding gravel 
roads, bucolic red farmhouses and 
wide-open spaces. Just beyond 
Ann Arbor’s city limits in almost 
every direction lies a spectacular 
expanse of greenery, mimicking 
the rural escapes of Northern 
Michigan.
Last Saturday, I had a few 
spare hours and decided to take 
a drive out into the countryside 
only a few minutes from Central 
Campus. Traveling down two-
lane country roads just outside 
of Ann Arbor always puts me 
at peace, and against a vivid 
backdrop of leaves ablaze with the 
flames of autumn, the scenes that 
whizzed by outside were striking. 
 
There was one point that 
afternoon, however, that brought 
me crashing back to reality. I was 
driving down a road in Salem 
Township; the sun was just 
starting to dip toward the horizon, 
and the leaves were tinged with 
brilliant streaks of crimson and 
orange when a rectangular for 
sale sign advertising new home 
sites caught my eye. This sign 
signaled that new houses would 
invade at any moment and topple 
the idyllic landscape — and I 
realized when I saw it that the 
scene was fleeting.
***
Salem Township is a small, 
rural community in northeastern 
Washtenaw 
County 
with 
a 

population of about 6,000 people. 
Salem is roughly 10 miles from 
downtown Ann Arbor and is 
characterized by its country-like 
atmosphere, farmland and open 
space. Together with its neighbor 
to the south, Superior Township, 
Salem serves as a narrow buffer 
between the built-up urbanization 
of Metro Detroit — including 
Wayne County communities like 
Canton and Plymouth — and the 
splendor of Ann Arbor we have 
come to love. 
For decades, even as far-flung 
locations in Metro Detroit have 
experienced dramatic waves of 
urban sprawl, Washtenaw County 
has largely retained its identity as 
a distinct community. Even just a 
half mile west of the border with 
Wayne County, Washtenaw has 
held on to its beautiful and scenic 
landscape. 
This, however, could all change 
as Washtenaw braces for a new 
wave of sprawl that, this time, 
might be powerful enough to 
encroach beyond the boundaries of 
Metro Detroit. Schostak Brothers 
and Company, a developer based 
in Livonia, has plans to develop 
hundreds 
of 
acres 
of 
rural 
countryside in Salem Township 
centered near Michigan Highway 
14’s interchange with Gotfredson 
Road. If these plans are put into 
action, this single project alone 
could lead to a 25% jump in 
Salem’s population.
Schostak’s plans for building 
a massive residential and retail 
project 
date 
back 
to 
2003, 
when the prominent Michigan 

developer first purchased this 
land. Since then, the project 
has gotten tangled up in legal 
battles over zoning as nearby 
residents push back against the 
development. 
(This 
multi-use 
plan has also been scrutinized 
over the origins of a questionable 
Michigan Economic Development 
Corporation grant to help the 
project get off the ground.)
More recently, the project — 
dubbed “Salem Springs” — has 
stalled as Schostak struggles to 
find a way to connect the land to 
the sewer system. The developer 
is currently fighting a court battle 
over running a sewer line south to 
the Ypsilanti Community Utilities 
Authority 
through 
Superior 
Township; Superior is (rightly) 
blocking 
the 
construction 
of 
this line through its agricultural 
district, as a sewer could set off 
a new wave of sprawl within its 
own community. 
***
Maybe the court will rule 
against this project, and maybe 
the land will be spared. Maybe 
I’ll be able to drive down the same 
two-lane country road next fall, 
and maybe I’ll find solace in the 
brilliant shades of autumn again. 
Sadly, I know the odds this 
would happen are decent at best. 
Development is sometimes just 
impossible to defeat. And even 
if somehow Schostak’s plans are 
derailed, it will only be so long 
until the next developer proposes 
to raze a slice of Washtenaw’s 
scenic wilderness.
These are depressing thoughts, 

and they should be. Urban sprawl 
is a truly destructive force that 
has 
destroyed 
communities 
across the country. Once it 
comes to Washtenaw County, it 
will be unstoppable if we don’t 
take a stand now. Our precious 
natural 
resources 
and 
open 
spaces are fragile and limited, 
and development will wipe them 
away. Forever.
Some might dismiss sprawl 
like Salem Springs as unrelated 
to the environmentally-conscious 
community of Ann Arbor that 
we have come to love, but this 
simply isn’t true. Regardless of 
how far our community may feel 
from Metro Detroit, the eastern 
border of Ann Arbor is less than 
seven miles from Wayne County. 
A mere seven miles is very little 
land for urban sprawl to cover, 
and once developers get it started, 
development could spread toward 
Ann Arbor like an uncontained 
wildfire.
This 
spells 
major 
trouble 
for Ann Arbor and its unique 
community identity, both as a 
cultural center and as the home 
of the University of Michigan. 
One day, commuters could drive 
between Detroit and Ann Arbor 
with no apparent change to the 
landscape — just subdivision after 
subdivision — to the point that our 
city could geographically exist as 
a large suburb of Metro Detroit. It 
might seem inconceivable today 
while there is so much greenery 
nearby to enjoy, but developers 
have been known to convert 
open fields into mazes of curving 

streets, cul-de-sacs and parking 
lots remarkably quickly.
More importantly, sprawl is 
one of the most hostile enemies 
of 
the 
environment. 
In 
the 
age of climate change, urban 
sprawl 
dramatically 
increases 
our 
community’s 
dependence 
on 
gas-powered 
vehicles 
for 
transportation. Massive trends 
of sprawl also eliminate large 
tracts 
of 
greenery, 
removing 
carbon-sequestering trees from 
the landscape and destroying 
plant and animal habitats. Finally, 
urban sprawl claims land that has 
previously been used for farming 
in the past. In Ann Arbor in 
particular, we are quite fortunate 
to be in such close proximity to so 
many successful farm operations 
that provide locally-sourced and 
organic produce. But these too 
could be lost to urban sprawl if we 
turn a blind eye to Washtenaw’s 
growing 
fight 
against 
these 
development pressures.
***
There is reason for hope. Ann 
Arbor and Washtenaw County are 
lucky to be home to a community 
that 
cares 
so 
deeply 
about 
protecting our green spaces. For 
nearly two decades, the city of Ann 
Arbor has operated its innovative 
Greenbelt Program, an effort that 
aims to protect natural resources, 
farmland and open space in eight 
surrounding townships, including 
Salem and Superior Townships. 
This 
program 
has 
already 
permanently protected more than 
6,100 acres of land, with new 
landowners applying to join the 

city’s greenbelt every year. 
In addition to the Greenbelt 
Program, 
which 
is 
one 
of 
the 
most 
prominent 
land 
preservation initiatives in the 
community, many other entities 
have committed to defending 
our green spaces. Washtenaw 
County leads a Natural Areas 
Preservation Program, and many 
other 
organizations 
like 
the 
Legacy Land Conservancy and 
Superior Greenway lead similar 
efforts. Moreover, a number of 
communities, Superior Township 
in particular, have implemented 
strict measures to protect their 
green space and agricultural 
districts.
In the end, it is perfectly 
appropriate for a community 
like Washtenaw County, with a 
thriving economic landscape, to 
be the site of some development. 
But it is crucial that development 
is 
both 
economically 
and 
environmentally 
responsible, 
as well as minimal. Enormous, 
disconnected 
projects 
like 
Salem Springs are irresponsible 
and will lead to an explosion in 
development and sprawl across 
our community. 
County 
officials, 
township 
governments and city leaders 
must work together immediately 
to form a comprehensive plan 
aimed at protecting Washtenaw’s 
invaluable natural spaces. It’s not 
too late. This is our community, 
and our green spaces, to defend.

Salem Springs threatens last stretch of green space 
between Detroit and Ann Arbor

I

n 2020, the first and most 
intense year of the COVID-
19 pandemic, daily life in our 
society underwent significant changes. 
These adaptations were part of what 
many believed to be a “new normal” 
that would persist as long as — if not 
longer than — the pandemic itself. 
Some developments have been widely 
considered 
positive. 
Unnecessary 
meetings were canceled or adapted 
into emails. Long commutes were 
often 
eliminated. 
Many 
families 
found themselves spending more time 
together. Despite the rapidly worsening 
state of public health, perhaps there 
were a few silver linings in this new 
normal.
Such was not the case for spectator 
sports and fans. With restrictions on 
large gatherings, live audiences were 
prevented from attending sporting 
events, and after long periods of 
complete shutdown, seasons were 
either canceled altogether or resumed 
in vacuum environments free of fans. 
Players across various sports noticed 
the difference in the atmosphere 
and the ways in which empty arenas 
impacted the games. Fans waxed 
poetic about missing the experience 
of attending live competitions and 
witnessing athletic history. These 
audience-free environments were a 
necessary alteration during the height 
of the pandemic, but all parties wished 
for the conditions which would allow 
sports and the broader community a 
return to normalcy.
With COVID-19 cases decreasing as 
a result of widespread immunization, 
spectators have started to trickle back 
into stadiums, and fan bases could not 
be happier. The sights and sounds of 
tens of thousands of raucous people 
reacting to every play could never be 

replaced by artificial crowd noise, 
and being part of a team’s home-field 
advantage is a magical feeling for 
fans of all ages. The return of fans has 
increased both the quality and stakes 
of each game played. The NFL, for one, 
has repeatedly called 2021 its “biggest 
season ever,” as the return of fans 
across the league and the addition of 
a 17th game for each team combine to 
ceremoniously usher in the future of 
the sport.
Nowhere has this comeback borne 
out more evidently than at Michigan 
Stadium, 
where 
spectators 
have 
enthusiastically returned after a 2020 
season that left many fans feeling 
as empty as the bleachers at the Big 
House. As the largest stadium in North 
America and the third-largest in the 
world, the complete absence of fans 
could not be more unnatural. In normal 
times, those in attendance at Michigan 
football games are reminded by 
announcer Carl Grapentine that they 
are part of the “largest crowd watching 
a football game anywhere in America 
today,” a fact which carries special 
weight after a year in which crowds 
were robbed of the electric atmosphere 
of Michigan football. U-M fans 
certainly appear refreshed upon their 
return, with their spirited game day 
traditions, such as the crowd’s inspired 
singing of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” 
garnering national attention.
For those who already had the chance 
to be part of college fandom before 
the pandemic struck, the removal of 
fans from sporting events made for 
yet another tough blow. Taking in a 
game at the Big House, Crisler Center, 
Yost Ice Arena or anywhere else on 
campus is a one-of-a-kind experience 
and practically a rite of passage for U-M 
students. With boisterous collective 

chants, seas of maize and blue apparel 
and the exceptional performances of 
U-M student-athletes, the environment 
is unparalleled. After a year of watching 
from our couches as U-M teams achieve 
greatness, students and fans have found 
an even greater appreciation for simply 
being present.
Athletes often explain their love 
for team-oriented sport through an 
appreciation for being part of something 
greater than themselves. The same can 
be said for fans, who dedicate their time, 
resources and energy to the teams they 
adore. Their cheers, whether stemming 
from euphoria or exasperation, are 
what make spectator sporting events 
the popular rituals they are. Research 
has shown that the presence and 
energy of a live audience often affect 
the performance of athletes and may 
exert notable influence on the outcome 
of a game. Home court advantage exists 
and can certainly prove powerful. 
After a year in which people felt 
more socially isolated than ever before, 
the enthusiasm for live sports comes 
as no surprise. Despite the lingering 
of COVID-19, many of those with a 
love for their teams and competition 
simply cannot remain on the sidelines 
any longer. It once seemed improbable 
for crowds to come back to arenas this 
year, or perhaps for even longer. Now, 
scientific developments and necessary 
precautions 
have 
assured 
that 
in-person sports attendance is back and 
likely here to stay, and it is beautiful to 
see athletes and fans coming together 
once again. For those able to attend who 
haven’t gotten in on the action, there’s 
no better time to get in the game and be 
a part of something bigger than oneself.

Noah Ente can be reached at 

noahente@umich.edu.

ARTS

over the

YEARS

Bis etum il ius eliquam usaerum eium 
velicti comnit dunt, tota que consequo is 
essunture dolor molesti beriore, il ea ne 
plab ipsae excero te volorep tation re 
videndunt omnihil ipienda veliqui nobites 
et laboriame lantiossunt hil ius arumqui 
dentibus, qui aliat pa qui simolessit, nes 
escilit harum que volorit eicia con plis 
everum fugitatur si quiae esto blaturem labo. 
Itatas mos venis arumnihilla ntentotatem 
aut etum hil il mod quam es est as endaesc 
ipiendis escium lation cupta doluptam ab 

FEBRUARY 4: Then-University President Mark 
Schlissel launches the President’s Commission 
on Carbon Neutrality, whose advice informed 
the University’s ongoing commitments to 
reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. 

OCTOBER 30: The University announcees that 
it will help develop and operate the Detroit 
Center for Innovation, an educational and 
research facility for students pursuing a variety 
of STEM degrees.

FEBRUARY 8: The Board of Regents appoints 
a Presidential Search Committee to find 
a replacement for former University 
President Mark Schlissel. The 
Committee includes two students and a 
variety of faculty and staff members.

FEBRUARY 25: Russia invade Ukraine, 
triggering a massive backlask from Western 
governments and media, including the 
Michigan Daily Editorial Board. 

OPINION
over the
YEARS

JUNE 17: The University extends the Go 
Blue Guarantee, which waives tuition for 
low-income students from Michigan, to the 
University’s Flint and Dearborn campuses.

OCTOBER 8: John Vaugn sets up his 
campsite outside the University of 
Michigan President’s House, to protest the 
University’s handling of hundreds of sexual 
assault allegations against Robert Anderson.

U

pon entering college, 
I 
expected 
my 
financial situation to fit 
that of the “broke college student” 
I had heard was the norm. The 
absurdly high cost of tuition at 
colleges and universities in the 
United States places a heavy 
financial burden on families, with 
69% of college students in the class 
of 2019 taking out student loans 
and graduating with a debt of 
$29,000 on average. This obstacle 
within the college experience 
has given the average American 
college student the stereotype of 
being “broke.”
I soon came to see that this 
stereotype did not fit the average 
University of Michigan student, 
as the median family income 
on the University’s campus is 
$154,000. This stands significantly 
higher than the national median 
household income of $68,703. 
Staple parts of life for many 
U-M students — at times, myself 
included 
— 
are 
allowances, 
Canada Goose jackets and even 
a parent’s credit card on hand. 
Wealth inequality is one of the 
most 
pressing 
issues 
facing 
America. On a smaller scale at the 
University, however, I have noticed 
this inequality manifesting itself 
largely in the food scene. 
Last year as a freshman living 
in the dorms and this year as a 
sophomore living in Greek life 
housing, I have paid for meal plans. 
While the meal plan I am on now 
does not offer dinner on Saturdays 
or breakfast on Sundays, I often 
find myself spending money on 
food even on days when my meal 
plan does offer food. 
In best college town rankings, 
Ann Arbor is almost always in 
the top three, offering amazing 
food options for takeout and dine-
in experiences. Therefore, food 
in Ann Arbor is at the center of 
social life for many U-M students. 
Especially during the pandemic 
with social events being limited, 
getting food with friends or 
going out to eat are some of the 

easiest options for socializing and 
changing up your daily routine. 
Because the average median 
income at the University is so 
high, many do not understand 
that centering socializing around 
spending money on food puts 
students that are more financially 
conscious 
in 
uncomfortable 
situations, 
having 
to 
choose 
between spending time with 
friends or saving money. 
Further, when students choose 
to spend money on food while 
having meal plans purchased, this 
increases food waste because meal 
plans produce enough food for 
everyone with a plan to be served. 
Nine-hundred twenty-five million 
people in the world are considered 
starving while 1.3 billion tons 
of food are wasted annually — 
this is enough food to feed three 
billion people. By increasing food 
waste, students are exacerbating 
inequality 
in 
an 
extremely 
unnecessary way. 
University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel has stated that the 
University is seeking to “welcome 
students from all communities 
and backgrounds who have the 
talent and desire to be Michigan 
Wolverines.” 
However, 
for 
the University to become a 
truly welcoming campus to 
students from all socioeconomic 
backgrounds, the culture around 

spending 
money 
among 
the 
students themselves must become 
more considerate and aware of the 
financial burdens others may be 
facing. 
Student spending in the city of 
Ann Arbor, not including groceries 
and housing, is estimated to be at 
around $94.9 million annually. 
Food is at the center of Ann Arbor’s 
economic success and students 
are an integral source of income 
for many Ann Arbor businesses. 
Therefore, students who can afford 
to spend money on food and enjoy 
doing so should continue giving 
Ann Arbor restaurants business. 
However, students must put 
more thought into deciding to 
eat out. Not only is there the 
larger issue of food waste, but by 
constantly centering socializing 
around spending money on food, 
students are creating an exclusive 
community 
that 
perpetuates 
socioeconomic divisions within 
the student body. While it may feel 
at times that everyone can afford to 
spend money on food, the typical 
college student faces extreme 
financial burdens from the high 
cost of tuition. When social life is 
centered around spending money, 
our community will never be 
welcoming to everyone. 

Lizzy Peppercorn can be reachedat 

epepperc@umich.edu.

Exclusivity in Michigan’s food 
spending culture

Evan Stern can be reachedat 

erstern@umich.edu.

NOAH ENTE | 2021 COLUMNIST
LIZZY PEPPERCORN | 2021 COLUMNIST

EVAN STERN | 2020 COLUMNIST

2020
 2021
2022
2019

JUNE 22: Then-University President Mark 
Schlissel announces that the University 
will reopen the Ann Arbor campus to 
in-residence learning in the Fall 2020 
semester. 

SEPTEMBER 8: Members of the Graduate 
Employees’ Organization begin of strike 
against the University’s handlings of 
COVID-19

The roaring comeback of live sports

BECCA MAHON/Daily

Design by Erin Shi

