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
michigandaily.com

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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

