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.
ALEXANDRA VENA
Daily Staff Reporter
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