The Michigan Daily sat down with 
new University President Santa Ono on 
Tuesday afternoon for his first formal 
interview since officially taking office 
last Friday. Ono discussed his priorities 
for the administration, the University’s 
Climate Action Plan and his plans for 
engaging with student organizations on 
campus. 
This interview has been edited and 
condensed for clarity. 
The Michigan Daily: From city 
council member to senator to university 

president, the beginning of a tenure of 
a public servant often sets the tone for 
the goals of the administration and the 
work yet to come. To help our university 
community understand what to expect 
from 
your 
administration, 
what 
are your priorities for your first 100 
days as president of the University of 
Michigan?
Santa Ono: The most important 
thing is for me to meet with different 
parts of the institution; that’s why I am 
thrilled that we are meeting in the first 
several days of my time here. As you 
know, I have been on campus for about 
four or five days, and I am meeting 
with people in formal meetings, but I 
am also out and about. For example, I 

went to the Michigan Union recently, 
and I’ve also been to the Michigan 
League. I am also having meetings 
with all kinds of individuals around 
the entire institution, including going 
to Flint later this week for the regents 
meeting. It has been a whirlwind of 
activity, but it hasn’t just started in the 
past four or five days. It has been three 
months since the announcement. I 
have put in hundreds of hours of Zoom 
meetings and a couple of visits, and 
had a chance to meet leadership with 
the student government, but also the 
Faculty Senate and some of the unions. 
And so, to answer your question, the 
priorities are to first listen and then 
inform my priorities based upon what I 

learn from that.
TMD: Throughout your tenure 
as President-elect, you were active on 
social media trying to engage with 
student groups on campus. Now that 
you have officially stepped into the role 
of president, how do you plan to engage 
with students here on campus?
SO: So you probably noticed that 
I have actually enhanced the level of 
engagement on social media. Just in the 
past hour, I got about 12 direct messages 
from students and staff and faculty, so 
that seems to be continuing and is a 
medium where people feel comfortable 
interacting with me, which is great. 

Let’s get a “hail yeah” for the 
University of Michigan class of 
2026. At this point, this year’s 
freshmen have survived their first 
seven weeks on campus, including 
five game days in the Big House, 
about 130 meals in the dining halls 
and two University presidents.
The Michigan Daily sent a survey 
to the 5,357 students Information 
and Technology Services listed as 
members of the class of 2026 on 
Sept. 8, receiving 1,194 answers 
about freshman experiences and 
expectations. Overall, The Daily 
found that this year’s freshmen are 
fairly optimistic when it comes to 
grades and dorms but less so about 
the impending winter. 

Here are the results of those 
who responded:
Residence Halls
West Quadrangle has been 
officially 
crowned 
the 
most 
coveted 
dorm 
placement 
on 
campus for the second year in 
a row. Freshmen rated their 
residence halls on a scale of 1-10 
with West Quad averaging a 
9.28 satisfaction rate. That’s still 
slightly down from last year, when 
the class of 2025 gave West Quad a 
9.56 average rating.
When LSA freshman Rachel 
Lim was placed in West Quad over 
the summer, she said her mother 
— an alum of the University — told 
her she was lucky. That’s turned 
out to be true, Lim told The Daily, 
and she has enjoyed living in 
her dorm over the past couple of 
months.

From 
air 
conditioning 
to 
spacious rooms and lounges, Lim 
said West Quad is one of the best 
dorms on campus. And the location 
can’t be beat, she said.
“West is definitely top-tier,” 
Lim said. “The main thing is how 
central it is. It’s really convenient 
getting to classes.”
Compared to last year, East 
Quad (8.88 average rating) upset 
South Quad (8.74 average rating) 
as the second-most satisfactory 
dorm on Central Campus for this 
year’s freshmen. With an average 
satisfaction rate of 7.76 across all 
of the dorms, it seems that the 
freshmen are already feeling pretty 
at home in Ann Arbor. This year, 
Baits II beat out Bursley for being 
the favorite North Campus dorm. 
And with an average rating of 9.04, 
Alice Lloyd Residence Hall was 

the king — or queen — of the Hill 
compared to Couzens and Mosher-
Jordan Residence Halls’ ratings of 
8.19 and 8.75, respectively.
GPA Forecasts
According to the respondents, 
prospective neuroscience students 
think they will have the lowest 
GPAs upon graduation — with an 
expected 3.43 average. They’re 
followed 
by 
architecture 
and 
nursing students with anticipated 
GPAs of 3.49 and 3.54, respectively.
Out of the 10 majors with 
the 
lowest 
expected 
grades, 
half of them are in the College 
of 
Engineering. 
Mechanical 
engineering, computer science, 
aerospace engineering, chemical 
engineering and environmental 
engineering students all think they 
will end up with a GPA lower than 
3.70 — the median GPA anticipated 
by the class of 2026.
Engineering 
freshman 
Julie 
Anton said she expects her GPA 
to be around a 3.5 when she 
graduates in four years. She said 
she recognizes that engineering 
courses 
are 
rigorous 
and 
challenging, especially since she 
did not have a strong engineering 

background in high school.
“Nobody 
really 
learns 
engineering in high school,” Anton 
said. “I think (a 3.5 GPA) is pretty 
reasonable for the university we go 
to and considering the courses I’ll 
be taking in the future.”
Tuition Stress
Seventy-eight percent of first-
generation students in the class 
of 2026 are at least somewhat 
concerned about paying tuition, 
while less than half of non-first-
generation students are stressed 
about paying for college.
About 
14% 
of 
all 
U-M 
undergraduates 
are 
first-
generation 
students, 
though 
almost a third of underrepresented 
minority 
students 
are 
first-
generation. According to a 2017 
New York Times analysis for the 
class of 2013, the median family 
income at the University was 
$154,000. The University’s website 
for first-generation students says 
66% of first-generation students 
come from households making 
$65,000 or less. That means 
the majority of first-generation 
students come from backgrounds 
where their parents were making 

less than half of the median family 
income at the University. 
While the Go Blue Guarantee 
offers free tuition for students 
whose parents make less than 
$65,000, many first-generation 
students do not qualify for in-state 
tuition and are therefore ineligible 
for the guarantee.
LSA 
freshman 
Vanessa 
Rodriguez is a first-generation 
student whose parents immigrated 
to Michigan from Cuba about 23 
years ago. Though Rodriguez said 
qualifying for in-state tuition and 
financial aid has helped take some 
of the financial burden of going to 
college off her family, she still has 
to work a campus job to fund her 
education.
In general, Rodriguez said she 
has noticed higher stress levels 
among first-generation students 
concerning tuition.
“Sometimes 
it’s 
stressful,” 
Rodriguez said. “I have to work to 
help my parents pay (for college) 
because they said they would help 
me, but I have to put in that work, 
too.”

GOT A NEWS TIP?
E-mail news@michigandaily.com and let 
us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 97
©2022 The Michigan Daily

NEWS............................1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1

STATEMENT..........INSERT
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michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, October 26, 2022

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

UMich class of 2026 by the numbers: From winter woes to this year’s dream dorm

Freshmen share their feelings on residence halls, anticipated GPA, concerns with tuition 

CAMPUS LIFE

‘The priorities are first to listen’: Santa Ono 
outlines goals since taking office

New University president says engaging community, facilitating conversation 
are values he will pursue during his tenure

GRACE BEAL/Daily

Following 
the 
first 
snow 
flurries of the fall, students 
gathered in the University of 
Michigan Diag Thursday evening 
to listen to live music, eat free 
pizza and register to vote at the 
Tune In Turn Out Festival. The 
event was co-hosted by Citizens’ 
Climate 
Lobby 
(CCL) 
and 
Empty Mug Records to spread 
awareness about climate action 
and encourage U-M students to 
vote in the midterm elections.
Voter 
registration 
tables 
bordered the Diag as upbeat rock 
and folky acoustics rang from the 
steps of Hatcher Graduate Library. 
The event featured performances 
from environmentally-conscious 
artists Kelly Hoppenjans, Ani 
Mari and Big Chemical.

Empty 
Mug 
Records, 
a 
student-run 
record 
label 
on 
campus, booked the musicians 
and coordinated the audio setup 
for the concert. LSA senior 
Aly Latherow, co-president of 
Empty Mug Records, said it was 
important to prioritize musicians 
who understood the issues the 
event advocated for.
“We 
just 
want 
to 
make 
sure that the artists that are 
representing the event actually 
know what they’re representing 
and know the platform that we’re 
giving them,” Latherow said.
Public Health junior Joseph 
Cerniglia, 
co-president 
of 
CCL, spoke about CCL’s goals 
for the festival, emphasizing 
the importance of voting for 
candidates who will prioritize 
environmental issues.

 Tune In Turn Out Festival 
hosts musicians to 
promote sustainability, 
voter registration
Environmentally-conscious artists invited 
to Diag, encourage climate legislation

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

CAMPUS LIFE
ADMINISTRATION

 NATALIE ANDERSON
Daily Staff Reporter

University President Santa Ono speaks during his first interview with The Michigan Daily in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building October 18. 

Big Chemical performs at the Tune in Turn Out Festival on the Diag Thursday evening.

JOSÉ BRENES/Daily

 RONI KANE
Daily News Editor

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

See ONO INTERVIEW, Page 3

 PAIGE HODDER &
GEORGE WEYKAMP

Editor in Chief & Daily News Editor

