Students 
gathered 
Tuesday 

afternoon inside Trotter Multicultural 

Center, awaiting University President 

Santa Ono’s first visit to the building. 

During an address, Ono expressed 

his support for Trotter and the Black 

Student Union’s (BSU) “More Than 

Four” platform and addressed a recent 

incident in which unknown individuals 

tore down posters supporting the BSU 

around campus.

After a brief tour from the staff, 

Ono stepped into the Sankofa Lounge 

to address the small crowd of students 

that were there to listen and talk with 

him. He began by pledging to not talk 

about himself too much, but rather 

listen.

“I’m here to spend time with you, 

and to hear from you,” Ono said. “I just 

want to say this is a really beautiful 

building and it’s really wonderful to 

connect with you.”

Ono also acknowledged the recent 

incident involving the announcement 

of BSU’s platform and the torn 

down BSU posters. Last Tuesday, 

the BSU released their “More Than 

Four” platform, which called on 

the University to increase Black 

student 
enrollment, 
combat 
anti-

Blackness, improve DEI policies and 

increase equity in K-12 education. 

BSU broadcasted the platform across 

campus, putting up posters and posting 

on social media accounts to gain 

visibility from the student body. Later 

that day, anonymous actors tore down 

BSU posters around campus. 

On 
Thursday, 
Ono 
released 

a 
statement 
condemning 
these 

“harmful” and “destructive” actions. 

During his visit to Trotter, Ono 

again acknowledged and expressed 

his support for the platform, letting 

students know that he is looking 

forward to working with BSU to enact 

change on campus.

“I want to thank everyone who was 

involved in (the platform),” Ono said. “I 

think that the recommendations and 

suggestions in (the platform) make 

sense to me. I’m looking forward to 

getting together with the leadership of 

that group … to really think about how 

we can work together to make those 

recommendations a reality.”

LSA junior Stefania Ramirez, who 

was in attendance Monday afternoon, 

told The Michigan Daily she hoped 

Ono would do more than just talk about 

the platform, and instead, take action 

to address the concerns expressed by 

BSU.

“I think that some action I would 

like to see taken is President Ono 

actually leaning into those concerns, 

and validating them and actually taking 

action instead of just saying things,” 

Ramirez said.

Dr. Kyra Shahid, director of the 

Trotter Center, told The Daily that 

Ono’s 
acknowledgement 
of 
the 

BSU platform spoke volumes to the 

community.

“I think it means that he’s paying 

attention,” Shahid said. “I think it 

means that he’s not afraid to have the 

hard conversations, the necessary 

conversations, 
the 
conversations 

that hold true meaning and value to 

students. I think that’s exciting, I think 

that’s affirming.” 

During his time at the Trotter 

Center, Ono took questions from 

the crowd that had gathered. One 

student asked him about how the 

administration planned to improve 

responses to racist and discriminatory 

acts on campus. In response, Ono took 

the opportunity to apologize for how 

long it took for him to respond to the 

BSU posters being taken down.

“I apologize,” Ono said. “I wasn’t 

aware because we were busy the first 

few weeks of my being here. But, you 

should expect that kind of response 

from me, where I put out a statement, 

where I condemned it.” 

Ono then said that addressing these 

instances of racism and discrimination 

on campus are important to him 

because he has experienced personal 

instances in his own life.

“Myself … and my family have 

experienced, over my entire lifetime, 

racist acts,” Ono said. “So I’m personally 

motivated … to do everything I can to 

make this the most inclusive institution 

possible. It’s hard work. It takes a lot of 

time, but I’m very motivated to do it.”

Ono asked the students for their 

support in his efforts to address racism 

on campus, emphasizing that, together, 

the U-M community could make a 

powerful impact.

“I need your support,” Ono said. 

“I can’t do it alone. We’ve got to work 

on this together. And if something 

happens, you’ve got to tell me, and I 

do believe that working together we’ll 

make a change.”

Following the presentation portion 

of the event, Ono spent time speaking 

with students one-on-one, shaking 

hands and taking pictures. 

Shahid said that Ono’s visit was not 

only exciting, but also meant the start of 

real progress for the issues on campus 

that students of Color care about.

“I am beyond thrilled to welcome 

him into our space and to be able to 

share with him what I’ve been learning 

about students, about campus, about 

Trotter, about the specific history of 

Trotter and the role it plays right now … 

where we are in terms of the climate of 

campus and so many different student 

groups needing more support, needing 

more safe space, also needing more 

attention to the need for racial healing,” 

Shahid said. “I think that Santa Ono is a 

president that understands that. So him 

being here today, I think, is a great first 

start.”

University of Michigan Regents 

Katherine White (D) and Michael 

Behm (D) have been reelected to 

the Board of Regents, according 

to early results from Michigan 

Information & Research Service 

Inc. 

The Democratic incumbents 

took down Republican nominees 

Lena Epstein and Sevag Vartanian. 

White received 25.17% of the 

total vote while Behm received 

24.57% of the total vote. Epstein 

and Vartanian received 23.90% 

and 22.31%, respectively with 

all counties except Arenac and 

Clinton fully reporting.

White is the longest-serving 

member on the board, having 

first taken office in 1998, and 

will continue to serve through at 

least 2030. She currently works 

as a law professor at Wayne State 

University as well as a Brigadier 

General in the Army National 

Guard. 

Behm has served on the board 

since 2014 and is the president and 

co-owner of the law firm Behm & 

Behm and chairperson of Business 

Forward Michigan. In previous 

interviews with The Daily, Behm 

said his main goals as regent have 

been increasing the minimum 

wage on campus and improving 

the University’s climate action 

plan. 

Last 
year, 
Behm 
received 

criticism from the One University 

(1U) campaign for allegedly failing 

to meet the organization’s goals of 

increasing equity across all three 

U-M campuses. In an interview 

with The Daily this summer, Behm 

said he was surprised by 1U’s 

reaction. 

“I think I’ve met with them 

more 
than 
any 
other 
board 

member,” Behm said. “So I’m not 

quite sure (why 1U declined to 

endorse the campaign). There 

obviously 
is 
some 
failure 
in 

communication here because I 

think I do stand for many, if not 

all, the things that they stand for. 

I was the first regent to meet with 

them when they formed. I advised 

them that they should seek student 

involvement in their group.” 

The 
victory 
stabilizes 
the 

Board’s democratic majority at 

6-2 with Regents Ron Weiser and 

Sarah Hubbard, vice chair, as the 

sole Republicans.

2 — Wednesday, November 16, 2022
News

White, Behm reelected to U-M Board of Regents

ELECTIONS

Ono visits Trotter, addresses Black 
Student Union platform

Governing body now consists of six Democrats, two Republicans

Community members emphasize actions over words to U-M President

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President Santa Ono speaks to students about DEI issues and their own personal experience gathered in the Trotter Multicultural 
Lounge on Monday night.

