There were 3,000 people standing
side-by-side across the Diag on the
University of Michigan’s campus
Wednesday night. U-M students
and community members gathered
together in silence to mourn the
mass shooting that took place on
the
Michigan
State
University’s
campus Monday night which led to
the death of three MSU students:
Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and
Arielle Anderson. The U-M Central
Student Government organized the
vigil as a way for Wolverines to stand
in solidarity with Spartans and mourn
the tragedy.
A similar vigil took place on MSU’s
campus at 6 p.m. on Wednesday
and was attended by thousands of
students, according to The State
News, MSU’s student-run newspaper.
Both vigils honored the lives of those
who were killed in the shooting and
were intended to help students at both
campuses heal together. Attendees
in Ann Arbor held candles in a circle
around the block ‘M,’ before moving
toward the Hatcher Graduate Library
to listen to remarks by members of
CSG.
LSA senior Noah Zimmerman, CSG
president, spoke first, emphasizing
that the U-M community is mourning
alongside MSU.
“When
one
of
(Michigan’s
universities) is hurt, we all feel the
pain,” Zimmerman said. “We feel for
them.”
With a half-mast American flag
behind them, CSG members only
spoke for around ten minutes, but
invited attendees to stay as long as
they wanted to and asked students to
sign or write messages on a banner
sitting below the steps of the Graduate
Library. According to LSA senior
Jacklyn Hillman, CSG vice president,
the banner was given to MSU’s student
government following the vigil.
In an interview with The Michigan
Daily at the vigil, LSA sophomore
Kayla Wehner, a transfer student from
MSU, said she has several loved ones
at MSU. She said she couldn’t process
the shooting while it was happening,
and the impact of what had happened
didn’t sink in until she saw it all over
social media and in the news.
“My boyfriend, who’s a student
at MSU, called me and told me about
the shooting,” Wehner said. “All of my
friends and my siblings go to MSU, and
so I was really shaken and I couldn’t
even process what was going on.”
MSU junior Andy Nguyen said he
lives off campus, so he was shocked
to hear about the shooting Monday
night and he immediately started
sending texts to loved ones. Ngyuen
said he left East Lansing the morning
after the shooting and came to Ann
Arbor to stay with his girlfriend who
attends the University of Michigan.
He decided to attend the vigil on the
Diag to show support for his school.
“I just thought it was best to leave
Lansing,” Nguyen said. “I feel like
leaving may have helped a little bit, but
I kind of wish I stayed just because …
we’re all in this together. I was very
surprised that Michigan had a vigil,
so, very luckily I decided to come
here.”
When asked if Nguyen wanted to
share anything else with The Daily, he
responded with two words.
“Spartan Strong,” Nguyen said.
LSA sophomore Gabriela Muniz
said she was at home studying for an
exam when she heard the news about
an active shooter on MSU’s campus.
Muniz said she was immediately
shaken.
“It’s unbelievable that this is the
reality of this country,” Muniz said.
“(The victims) were just students,
living life, just going on about their
life, and now they are gone. Nobody’s
gonna reverse this senseless tragedy
for this family. It’s just terrible.”
Sueann Caulfield, professor at the
U-M Residential College, told The
Daily at the vigil that she was inspired
by the number of students who came
out to the Diag to stand in silence in
support of the MSU community.
“I was really struck by the silence
when I arrived,” Caulfield said. “I
arrived a few minutes early and
already the crowd (had) gathered, and
more were coming in. Everyone was
just here to be here with each other.”
MSU is a mere 62-mile drive from
Ann Arbor, and Caulfield said this
proximity means that almost every
U-M student knows at least one
person at MSU.
“(MSU is) not just close to home, it is
home,” Caulfield said. “It’s happened
to so many other people, and now it’s
happening to us.”
Nursing freshman Nicole Godfrey
said she attended the vigil to show
support for the MSU community,
including for her friend who knew
of one of the victims. Godfrey, who
is from Rochester, Mich. said she is
also very close with many people who
survived the shooting at Oxford High
School in November 2021.
“Justin
Shilling
was
actually
a friend of mine, and I lost him at
Oxford,” Godfrey said. “I just wanted
to give all my support, especially to the
Oxford students who had to endure
that and then went to Michigan
State as well … no one deserves to go
through this, especially (not) multiple
times.”
Engineering sophomore Hunter
Schrupp said he grew up in Ann
Arbor and has been participating in
the MSU and U-M rivalry for years,
but right now he thinks it’s incredibly
important that the U-M community
shows their unwavering support for
everyone in East Lansing.
“I’ve been to events like this after
tragedies, but this one is definitely
different,” Schrupp said. “I’m seeing
people I knew from high school who
have come back for the week from
MSU. I see the look on their faces, and
they’re sad and they’re scared and I
get it.”
Several
hundred
students
remained on the Diag late into the
night, their faces solemn as the wind
whipped back and forth. While
some students hugged each other
and offered support, others stood
quietly around the block ‘M’ until
their candles burned to the wick and
eventually went out.
In an interview with The Daily
at the event Peter Railton, a U-M
philosophy professor, spoke about the
prevalence of guns and gun violence
in the U.S., which became the leading
cause of death for children in 2022.
“With guns as widely present
as they are in our society, every
day, people are being shot in their
homes quietly,” Railton said. “Not by
necessarily criminals, but through
domestic violence and suicide. (Gun
violence is) an illness that (the U.S.
doesn’t) seem to be willing to cure
ourselves of.”
U-M
leadership,
including
University President Santa Ono, have
encouraged students to take care of
their wellbeing over the next several
days, highlighting the campus mental
health resources available to students
such as Counseling and Psychological
Services, the Faculty and Staff
Counseling and Consultation Office,
Michigan
Medicine
Office
of
Counseling and Workplace Resilience
and Wolverine Wellness.
The Michigan Daily would like to
express our deepest condolences to our
peers at Michigan State University and
our colleagues at The State News. Our
hearts go out to the families and friends
of the victims as well as the entire East
Lansing community.
The University of Michigan’s
Counseling
and
Psychological
Services faculty delivered a letter
to the desk of Martino Harmon,
vice president of student life, on
Tuesday morning. In the letter,
obtained by The Michigan Daily,
CAPS staff described a perceived
employee turnover crisis within
the office, which the signed
clinicians believe to be because
of a lack of competitive salary.
The letter requested that Harmon
responds by March 7.
Shortly after placing the letter
on Harmon’s desk, Dr. Reena
Sheth, an embedded psychologist
at the Law School, spoke in an
interview with The Michigan
Daily about how the letter is an
attempt to initiate conversations
with the administration about
instating a competitive salary.
Sheth said she believes the lack
of a competitive salary can
negatively affect students because
passionate mental health staff
often leave for more lucrative
opportunities.
“One of the ways they can
support us is by coming forward
in dialogue,” Sheth said. “So
the letter is an invitation to
Dr.
Martino
Harmon
and
the
administration
to
begin
this dialogue with us about a
competitive salary. Because if
you don’t have passionate mental
health
staff
that
are
really
dedicated to the wellbeing of
students, then it is a little bit of a
struggle.”
According to the open letter,
CAPS
has
lost
16
full-time
licensed clinicians out of a staff of
37 in the past 18 months. The letter
also stated that a report from the
International
Accreditation
of
Counseling Services’ visit last year
mirrored their concerns about the
turnover crisis. IACS stated that
the salary of CAPS employees was
inconsistent with that of similar
positions at different institutions.
The letters emphasized the
importance of CAPS’ purpose on
campus and the need for CAPS to
be able to continue functioning
as an office to provide adequate
mental
health
care
to
U-M
students.
“(CAPS
employees)
are
extremely
passionate
about
the
mental
health
of
our
Michigan students,” the letter
read. “We are at the forefront
of creating and maintaining a
thriving
student
community
in alignment to University of
Michigan’s
Diversity,
Equity,
and Inclusion values. We request
your immediate attention on this
matter to ensure that Michigan
students continue to have rapid
access to mental health care
services on campus.”
University spokesperson Kim
Broehuizen wrote to The Daily
in an email that the University
continues to value the mental
health of the campus community.
“The University of Michigan
is committed to the health and
well-being of our entire campus
community — students, staff and
faculty,”
Broekhuizen
wrote.
“This includes providing a robust
continuum of care that adapts
to and supports the well-being
and mental health of our entire
community.”
Dr. Ashley Jacob, an embedded
psychologist for LSA students,
told The Daily she wants to retain
the staff at CAPS and enable them
to support themselves financially.
“With mental health demands
continuing to rise, we really
want to retain our staff,” Jacob
said. “And we really want to also
be able to take care of our own
livable wage needs.”
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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 104
©2023 The Michigan Daily
N E WS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
S T A T E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . 5
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
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michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
‘Spartan Strong’: UMich and MSU mourn together at candlelight vigil
Thousands gathered on the Diag following MSU shooting
CAMPUS LIFE
RILEY HODDER &
MILES ANDERSON
Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
CAPS staff write open letter about employee
turnover crisis
The letter was sent to the VP of Student Life and
requests response in March
ADMINISTRATION
The University of Michigan
Board of Regents unanimously
approved an updated calendar
for the 2023-2024 academic
year
during
their
Feb.
16
meeting.
This
updated
academic calendar will change
the start of the winter 2024
term from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10 —
meaning that the University’s
Winter Break will be prolonged
by a week. The final day of
examinations has also been set
back a week, from Apr. 25 to
May 2. The fall 2023 semester
will be unaffected.
In
a
University
Record
article
published
Monday,
University
Provost
Laurie
McCauley said the change to
the calendar was made after
listening to feedback from
the campus community, with
several
students
expressing
their desire for a longer Winter
Break.
“The
University
of
Michigan
prides
itself
as
offering a rigorous academic
environment, but that also
means that our students and
faculty work hard throughout
the term,” McCauley said. “The
feedback we’ve heard from our
campus
community
around
well-being gave us pause and
led us to wonder if there was
more we could do with the
academic calendar to address
these concerns.”
Regents approve extended winter break
for next year
UMich students will have an extra week off in January 2024
ADMINISTRATION
ALI CHAMI/Daily
MATTHEW SHANBOM
& MILES ANDERSON
Daily Staff Reporters
KATE HUA/Daily
Students speak out at the vigil for the MSU shooting on the Diag Wednesday night
RACHEL MINTZ &
MADISON HAMMOND
Daily News Editor &
Daily News Reporter