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.