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Michigan’s affirmative action debate
‘A blueprint for fundamental change’ To settle the Black Action Movement strike in 1970, the University promised enough financial aid to raise Black enrollment to 10 percent. The aid promise was kept,...
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When everyone registered in Waterman Gym
“If you can do better, go to it” Women students confer with an orientation adviser before registration. (Image courtesy of U-M’s Bentley Historical Library.) Once upon a time, in the 1800s, Michigan...
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Yost builds the Big (bigger, and biggest) House
Football ticket fever Yost was featured on the cover of a 1926 football program a year before the dedication of Michigan Stadium. (Image courtesy of U-M’s Bentley HIstorical Library.) A century ago,...
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The peace protesters vs. the president: 1935
The thorn in his side At first, President Alexander Grant Ruthven watched Michigan’s small cadre of rebellious students with detached amusement. They “have a good time wrangling with each other,” he...
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The professor and the waltzing mice
High-toned nonsense The zoologist Alexander Grant Ruthven, Michigan’s president from 1929-51, never wanted to see the University in the newspapers. The danger was running afoul of the state legislature...
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November 1969: ‘It just changed everything’
‘Bo who?’ Coach Bo Schembechler and his first captain, tight end Jim Mandich. (Image courtesy of U-M’s Bentley Historical Library.) By the end of the 1968 season, Michigan football had been on the...
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Who was Robben Fleming?
The man who kept Michigan’s cool When demolition crews brought down the Fleming Administration Building in 2022, students watching from a safe distance must have had only the foggiest image of the...
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How Michigan planted its flag on Greenland — or tried to
An island under ice What is it about Greenland that tickles the acquisitive spirit? After all, it’s a pretty desolate place. Some 80% of its 836,000 square miles is covered by glacial ice to a depth of...
View ArticleA sporting chance
At the onset of the 20th century, women’s athletics expanded in the United States and at the University of Michigan. Women students took up tennis, archery, fencing, horseback riding, and more. The...
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The Futurist: Duderstadt and the Media Union
A fast start In the farming town of Carrollton, Missouri, pop. 4,554, James Johnson Duderstadt grew to 6’5.” At Yale, he played football, majored in electrical engineering, and graduated summa cum...
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