University of Michigan students 

gathered at the W38 parking lot, 

located next to Elbel Field at Hill 

and South Division streets Sunday 

afternoon to celebrate Holi, the 

Hindu festival of colors. Organized 

by the Ahimsa Council, the Hindu 

Student 
Council, 
the 
Indian 

American Student Association and 

the Indian Student Association, 

the event was free and open to the 

public.

Holi is celebrated annually to 

welcome the arrival of the spring 

season, love and new beginnings. 

The festival usually takes place in 

March or occasionally in February 

depending on the Hindu lunisolar 

calendar. This year, Holi fell on the 

night of March 7 and continued into 

the day of March 8 in India.

Despite 
the 
chilly 
winter 

temperatures still lingering in Ann 

Arbor, the sun was shining Sunday 

afternoon. 
Participants 
received 

bags of colored powder upon arrival 

in vibrant hues of red, orange, 

yellow, pink and blue to throw at 

each other.

Attendees 
were 
instructed 

to wear white or light colors in 

order for the colors to pop on their 

clothing. Blue tarps covered the 

blacktop, where attendees could 

scatter and throw color on each 

other. Soon enough, the air was 

filled with brightly colored clouds 

of powder that covered everyone’s 

clothing, hair and faces in every 

shade of the rainbow.

Along with throwing colored 

powder, 
participants 
sang 
and 

danced along to Indian music played 

by a DJ, chatted with attendees 

and took pictures together in their 

freshly colored clothing.

Business 
sophomore 
Ronith 

Ganjigunta celebrated Holi with his 

family when he was younger and 

attended the event Sunday. In an 

interview with The Michigan Daily, 

Ganjigunta spoke on his reasons 

for attending the festival at the 

University.

“I want to continue the tradition 

during college,” Ganjigunta said. “I 

just wanted to spend time with my 

friends (and) we just wanted to do 

something fun together.”

LSA junior Sanya Bhatia told 

The Daily Sunday’s event was her 

first time celebrating Holi. While 

attending the event with her friends, 

Bhatia said she hopes to make a new 

meaning of the celebration.

“Holi doesn’t actually hold that 

much meaning to me, and so I just 

hope to make a meaning with it,” 

Bhatia said. “I’m (most excited for) 

just having fun with my friends. 

That’s the spirit of Holi.”

Michigan IASA, one of the 

student organizations in charge 

of the event, hosts events and 

performances for students to get in 

touch with their culture on campus. 

Niharica Suri Kannan, co-logistics 

chair of IASA, told The Daily about 

the organization’s goals for the 

event.

“We’re just hoping that people 

have fun and have a good time, play 

Holi (and) get in touch with their 

roots and their culture in America,” 

Suri Kannan said.

Snigda Narisetty, co-president of 

IASA, spoke with The Daily about 

the 
importance 
of 
community 

building for the organization.

2 — Wednesday, March 29, 2023
News

Campus community comes together to celebrate Holi

CAMPUS LIFE

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

U-M students welcomed the start of spring at the colorful Hindu festival

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 Members of the Persian Student Association perform at their Nowruz show at the Power Center Friday night.

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EMMA MATI/Daily
The University of Michigan community gathers near Elbel Field to celebrate Holi Sunday afternoon.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

In 2011, The Michigan Daily 

reported the University of Michigan 

spent 
about 
$40,000 
annually 

replacing dinnerware stolen from 

campus dining halls. Now, more 

than a decade later, has anything 

changed? 

Susan Cramer, senior associate 

director of MDining, told The Daily 

in an email that the University now 

spends about $60,000 more annually 

than they did in 2011 to replace 

dinnerware. “Annually, MDining 

will spend close to $100,000 to 

replenish 
lost 
dinnerware 
and 

flatware, though our manufacturer 

replaces any broken or chipped 

dishware 
through 
a 
warranty 

program,” Cramer wrote. “Notably, 

MDining operational costs do not 

influence annual tuition rates, since 

tuition revenue pays for the core 

academic mission of the University 

(instruction, financial aid, academic 

advising, etc.).”

According to Cramer, thousands 

of items go missing from U-M dining 

halls each year. Not all of those 

are intentionally stolen, however. 

Cramer told The Daily she believes 

some 
dishes 
are 
accidentally 

thrown out and others are taken 

by students who do not know that 

all dinnerware and utensils should 

remain in the dining halls. 

“Over the course of an average 

academic year, MDining replaces 

(approximately) 22,000 pieces of 

flatware and dinnerware, which 

includes a combined 11,000 forks, 

knives and spoons; 4,000 plates; 

5,000 bowls and 2,000 cups,” 

Cramer 
wrote. 
“Students 
may 

accidentally place dinnerware and/

or flatware in compost bins along 

with their compostable items or may 

be unaware that dinnerware and 

flatware should remain in the halls.”

While it is difficult to pinpoint 

exactly why students take reusable 

dinnerware from campus dining 

halls, LSA sophomore Flynn Lyon 

theorized 
that 
many 
students 

may have simply forgotten to pack 

utensils 
and 
plasticware 
with 

them when they moved into their 

residence hall.

“I think the main thing is 

convenience,” Lyon said. “A lot of 

people when they first move in, their 

thoughts are ‘I need to get a lamp, I 

need to get bedsheets and to get all 

these big things for my dorm.’ And 

I think a lot of people don’t really 

think about dinnerware or smaller 

things like that.”

Lyon recounted a story from his 

freshman year when he frequented 

the Mosher-Jordan dining hall. 

Lyon said one day, there were no 

forks in the dining hall which made 

eating his meal a challenge. So the 

next day, when the forks had been 

replenished, he decided to take a few 

with him to ensure he always had a 

fork when going to eat. Lyon said 

stealing forks became somewhat of a 

game until he had accumulated over 

200 of them in his dorm room. 

“It snowballed into this bit: 

‘How many forks can I steal from 

the dining hall?’ ” Lyon said. “I 

think it got up to around 250 to 

260, 
somewhere 
around 
there, 

before 
I 
eventually 
ended 
up 

getting in trouble and met with 

my hall director. I gave them back 

obviously.”

No matter the reasoning behind 

the missing items, LSA junior Ava 

Dobos, dining hall student manager, 

told The Daily the theft tangibly 

affects both dining hall workers and 

people who eat there. Dobos said 

the lack of silverware and dishes 

increases wait times in the dining 

halls. 

“With the amount of people we 

serve in a night, we can get really 

low on silverware very quickly,” 

Dobos said. “We get low on dishes 

for certain places and that creates 

a wait time for people. But I don’t 

know if I credit that just to stealing; 

stuff gets broken.”

To temporarily address shortages 

due to lost and broken dinnerware, 

U-M dining halls have occasionally 

had 
to 
rely 
on 
compostable 

alternatives, which were also used 

at all campus dining halls during 

the pandemic. Cramer noted that 

using disposable dinnerware may 

inadvertently make students more 

likely to take reusable dishes out of 

the dining hall if they become used 

to taking their meals to-go. 

“MDining 
often 
observes 

an increase in lost items when 

reintroducing 
permanent 

dinnerware and flatware after 

prolonged 
compostables 
usage, 

which may occur during periods of 

staffing shortages and equipment 

downtime,” Cramer wrote. “This 

increase in lost dinnerware and 

flatware may be due to students 

becoming more accustomed to 

taking compostable pieces with 

them outside dining spaces.”

Dobos said she often finds 

dinnerware thievery is blatantly 

obvious, though she and her fellow 

staff cannot do much to stop it. 

Silver-where? UMich students are stealing 
dishes from dining halls

CAMPUS LIFE

Thousands of dishes have to be replaced by the University every year

MILES ANDERSON
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

