Since Santa Ono took office as 

the president of the University of 

Michigan 88 days ago, the football 

team beat Ohio State for a second 

time, the 2022 fall semester finished 

and Ann Arbor experienced a frigid 

winter 
blast. 
Ono’s 
presidency 

marked a hopeful change for many 

organizations on campus, but has 

Ono lived up to his expectations in 

his first semester as U-M president? 

Rackham 
student 
Amir 

Fleischmann, Graduate Employees’ 

Organization contract committee 

chair, told The Daily he has overall 

hope 
for 
Ono’s 
administration, 

but 
some 
issues 
from 
past 

administrations still persist.

“Lack 
of 
transparency 
is 

something 
we 
associated 
with 

President Schlissel,” Fleischmann 

said. “We really were optimistic that 

President Ono would be turning a 

new page. So far, we haven’t seen 

that happen, but we think there’s still 

time and we generally look forward 

to working with (him).”

Fleischmann said he hopes Ono’s 

administration will work more with 

its students and faculty when it 

comes to labor and other University 

affairs.

“We really want him to work 

with campus labor, to work with 

students and faculty to manage the 

affairs of the University together, and 

create a fantastic place of learning,” 

Fleischmann said.

LSA senior Russell McIntosh 

and co-programming chair of the 

Black Student Union (BSU) told The 

Daily he does not want to see Ono 

forget about Black students at the 

University.

“We want President Ono to 

remember that Black students have 

real and pressing needs,” McIntosh 

said. “They’re extremely important. 

We want to see progress.”

On Nov. 1, the BSU released their 

“More Than Four” platform, which 

calls on the University to provide 

more support for Black students by 

increasing Black student enrollment, 

expanding efforts to combat anti-

Blackness, improving DEI policies 

and investing in K-12 education 

to improve equity. Ono expressed 

support for the BSU in a tweet after 

flyers promoting the More Than 

Four platform across campus were 

torn down.

LSA senior Kayla Tate, BSU’s 

speaker, told The Daily she thinks 

one way Ono seems to be backing 

change on campus is by making 

promises directly to students. 

“I know that one of his big 

priorities has been building trust 

and that he’s been meeting with a lot 

of students,” Tate said. “I definitely 

have been hearing a lot of promises 

about improvement.”

Tate said while she has hope for 

Ono’s future as president, she is still 

hesitant to blindly accept Ono.

“We’re hopeful, but not naive,” 

Tate said.

LSA junior Jacob Sendra, vice 

president of the U-M chapter of the 

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), said 

in an interview with The Daily he 

believes Ono’s first semester has 

gone swimmingly in terms of his 

commitment to the environment.

“I think we are very optimistic 

about the direction of his first 

semester, especially in regards to 

sustainability,” Sendra said.

The CCL focuses its efforts 

on enacting sustainable climate 

policy by fostering relationships 

with lawmakers. Sendra said he’s 

hopeful Ono’s tenure could increase 

sustainability efforts on campus 

because he seems willing to listen to 

student climate organizations.

“We feel like we have the potential 

to form a real fruitful partnership 

between our organization and a lot 

of other climate organizations on 

campus that we’ve been talking to, 

with this new administration that 

can bring about some real positive 

change in regards to sustainability,” 

Sendra said.

Kirsten Herold, president of the 

Lecturers’ Employee Organization 

and 
School 
of 
Public 
Health 

professor, told The Daily she thinks 

Ono’s first semester has gone fairly 

well and has been a welcome change 

from past administrations.

“He’s willing to have a more 

ongoing relationship with union 

leadership, which is something that 

has been missing from not just the 

most recent president, but several 

presidents before that,” Herold said.

Herold said she believes Ono still 

has a lot to learn and that she thinks 

the University community should 

give him more time to acclimate to 

the campus climate before criticizing 

him.

“(The University) is a very big 

place, and it’s a lot,” said Herold. 

“You know, he’s a smart, energetic 

guy, but there’s a lot to learn and get 

to know. And so personally, I feel that 

people who want to criticize him for 

one thing or another, it’s a bit unfair 

because he just got here.”

Central 
Student 
Government 

President Noah Zimmerman, an 

LSA senior, told The Daily he feels 

that while there are some areas of 

improvement for Ono, he believe’s 

Ono’s first semester went well 

because of his willingness to learn.

“He’s been great,” Zimmerman 

said. “Is there room for improvement? 

Yes. He has to learn how the 

University works still. And he’s still 

learning, still asking questions, but 

he’s asking the questions that need to 

be asked.”

CSG Vice President Jacqueline 

Hillman, an LSA senior, told The 

Daily she believes Ono truly cares 

about helping students.

“One thing that I can say very 

confidently is that President Ono 

genuinely puts students at the heart 

of every single initiative that he 

started to carry out,” Hillman said.

Hillman said she has hope for 

the future of Ono’s administration 

and believes Ono can help repair 

some of the damage done by past 

administrations to create a better 

future for the University. 

Consistently ranked as one of the 

top places to live in the country, Ann 

Arbor’s appeal relies heavily on its 

numerous and delicious restaurant 

options. Taking a walk down any 

street yields a rich sensory experience 

as everything from Asian and Italian 

to Mexican and American cuisine 

options excite the eyes, nose and taste 

buds. 

Recently, a new fusion restaurant 

popped up on the northside of town. 

El Limōn introduced a new blend of 

Mediterranean and Mexican flavors 

to Ann Arbor when it opened on Nov. 

4. The restaurant, nestled between 

The Songbird Cafe and Curry On, 

an Indian Street Food hot spot, on 

Plymouth Road is bringing new flavors 

to the area around the University of 

Michigan’s North Campus.

El Limōn’s menu offers dishes 

that combine the two unique flavor 

palates, bringing creations to life such 

as: crispy falafel tacos, spiced chicken 

shawarma burritos, rice dishes with 

yellow flour tortillas, nacho chips and 

lentil bowls. 

Ali Hijazi, owner of El Limōn, 

was born in Lebanon and previously 

ran the two ‘Zamaan Cafe’s, a 

Lebanese cuisine style restaurant in 

Ann Arbor. Hijazi said he believes 

the combination of Mediterranean 

and Mexican cuisines is not novel, 

noting 
commonalities 
between 

Mediterranean and Mexican cuisine. 

For instance, Hijazi said there’s a fine 

line separating a burrito from a pita 

wrap — it all comes down to the type of 

bread and the spices and sauces. 

“So, the burrito that you see, the 

flour, or the tortilla, of the taco is 

nothing but pita bread,” Hijazi said. 

“When we are cooking, whatever 

we use in Arabic cuisine, so many 

ingredients 
are 
common 
with 

Mexican cuisine.” 

LSA 
freshman 
Isaac 
Hintz 

expressed curiosity towards the idea 

of Mediterranean-Mexican fusion. He 

said the two cuisines are individually 

among his favorites, so he would be 

interested in trying them together at 

El Limōn. 

“Mediterranean food is probably 

my favorite food … and then Mexican 

is probably my second or third favorite, 

so I think fusing those would be pretty 

good,” Hintz said. “I’ll have to try (El 

Limōn) for myself.”

When creating El Limōn, Hijazi 

said he saw an opportunity for 

a restaurant in Ann Arbor that 

combinated these cuisines. He said 

he hopes his customers will see the 

connection between Mediterranean 

and Mexican food styles. 

As for the future of El Limōn and 

the Zamaan Cafes, Hijazi said he is 

somewhat concerned about finding 

employees to work at the restaurants 

long-term. He told The Michigan 

Daily he has not had many people ask 

about jobs. He said the issue may be 

symptomatic of a larger industry-wide 

worker shortage that has plagued 

the restaurant scene since the start of 

the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently 

Hijazi’s family members are working at 

El Limōn as cashiers and cooks to keep 

the doors open, but only temporarily 

until they finish their studies at school. 

“We can barely handle these 

businesses now,” Hijazi said. “We can’t 

find workers. This is a big problem for 

the restaurant industry now.”

Despite the shortage of employees 

for Hijazi’s restaurants, Hijazi shared 

that he hopes to make El Limōn a space 

for the cultural fusions to flourish by 

having live Spanish and Arabic music 

play inside El Limōn.

“We’re 
hoping 
to 
bring 
live 

musicians, (so) they can introduce 

the customers to the fusion of music,” 

Hijazi said. 

Eric Kaldjian, an employee at 

the U-M North Campus Research 

Complex, recently visited El Limōn 

with his family to celebrate his 

birthday. He said his family loves 

Mediterranean food and they were all 

excited to try El Limōn’s menu.

“(My family and I) were so looking 

forward to coming here that we came 

here for my birthday lunch,” Kaldjian 

said. “We all loved the Middle Eastern 

food from Zamaan (Cafe). So we 

concluded that El Limōn is likely to 

be very good also. And our conclusion 

was correct.” 

Kaldjian was with his wife, Cynthia 

Stiles, and their son. They all said the 

food was delicious, and Stiles added 

that she was especially interested in 

the unique combination of cuisines.

“I was curious about how the fusion 

between Mexican and Middle Eastern 

flavors would work, and I have to say it 

works very well,” Stiles said.

2 — Wednesday, January 18, 2023
News

El Limōn opens near North Campus

BUSINESS

Campus reflects on Santa Ono’s first semester

New restaurant brings Mediterranean and Mexican fusion cuisine 
to North Campus

 Students and professors reflect on Santa Ono’s first semester as 
U-M president after fall 2022

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