The Michigan Identity
Fall 2024​
How Much Does Michigan’s Identity Rely on its
Football Team’s Performance?
By Sydney Lesnick
Interviewee Bios: Andy Tukel and Eli Gordon are
in-state students at the University of Michigan
who grew up attending football games at the
Big House. Andy is a junior in the Ross School of
Business and Eli is a junior studying psychology.
Gila Shechter is an out-of-state junior from Miami
studying business who knew little about the role
of football in Michigan’s campus culture before
she movd to Ann Arbor. Sarah Ostad is also an
out-of-state junior from New York in the School
of Information and is not interested in football.
Every interviewee has attended at least one
Michigan football game as a student.
Football is undoubtedly a staple of the University of Michigan. With a massive tailgate scene, the electric Big House atmosphere, and now another national title under its belt, the Michigan Football program adds an extra layer to what it means to be a Wolverine: a champion. Michigan students, alumni, and fans alike share a sense of pride, uniting to support the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s “winningest” program in college football history.
The success of the Wolverines during the 2023 season radiated across campus. After an undefeated regular season, solidified with a third consecutive win over rival Ohio State, Wolverines rallied together as Michigan clinched the national championship. This became the new identity of Michigan. James Earl Jones narrates before each football game, “This is the best university in the world,” and during the winter 2024 semester, it truly felt like that.
Unfortunately, the excitement surrounding Michigan football quickly faded as the Wolverines faced a tough defeat to Texas in the second game of the 2024 season, marking their first home-game loss in years, and ending a 29-game regular season winning streak. This turning point has presented new challenges for the university, as the monetary value, national reputation, and legacy of Michigan may be at risk.
Aside from the campus culture, Michigan Football generates a substantial amount of revenue for the university. According to the Sports Business Journal, the Michigan Athletics program garnered a $4 million operating surplus because of the performance of the football team in the 2022- 23 season. Now, with multiple losses under their belt, it is unclear how the Wolverines’ rough patch will impact the University of Michigan’s finances.
Some students think that Michigan’s campus feels different from last semester. Andy Tukel describes himself as a lifelong Michigan fan, though he is not particularly interested in football. He explains, “When our team was doing very well, I had more of an interest in going to the games. Even if I didn’t enjoy the football much, I did enjoy the energy.”
Since Michigan’s loss to Texas, Tukel has not attended a football game, and he is not the only one. According to Eli Gordon, a member of a social fraternity, attendance at tailgates has declined this season compared to last. He explains, “Last year, there were always people coming to tailgates and they were excited. This year, it takes a long time for people to come, [the tailgates] are not always good, and a lot of people stopped going to the games."
Michigan’s vibrant athletic culture is a major draw for prospective students, with many applying because of the strong sense of school spirit and camaraderie fostered by its sports programs. For some students, like Gordon, their connection to Michigan runs deep thanks to passion for Wolverine football. “If I wasn’t such a big fan of the football team, I don’t think I would be so praise-worthy of Michigan as a school,” he said.
However, there is also a large group of students who were unaware of the role football plays in Michigan’s culture and community until they experienced it !rsthand. This was the case for out-of-state student Gila Shechter. She describes herself as uninterested in sports, but enjoys the tailgate scene from time to time. “It was pleasantly surprising to see the way everybody rallies to support the football team. I didn’t expect it at all, but it’s nice to see,” Shechter said.
Despite its seemingly prevalent presence on campus, many members of the student body opt to distance themselves from the football scene altogether. For instance, Sarah Ostad is not a particular fan of game day. “Weekends are the only times I can relax, so having a game day a bunch of Saturdays in a row is just not for me. I’d much rather sleep in and don’t even remember the last time I went to a game,” she said.
It seems that the football program serves as a catalyst for the qualities of the Michigan identity that make it so unique. The competitive and dedicated nature of being a Michigan student is put on display through cheering on our sports teams, bonding past and present Wolverines. As Michigan faces a challenging season, the question remains: How much does Michigan rely on a good football team? The truth is, only time will tell. However, its robust legacy, passionate fanbase, and strong academics have propelled Michigan to the top thus far, with or without a perfect football season.
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You've Gotta Want It: Work Hard, Play Hard Culture at Michigan
By Madeline Canter
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Interviewee Bios: KG Foley is a recent Michigan graduate from Long Island, NY who returned to Ann Arbor to work at the University of Michigan Medical Center on her gap year before medical school. When Foley was a student, she balanced a pre-med course load and participation in Greek life with involvement in organizations like WCBN (a student-run sports talk radio). Josh Liu is a senior from San Diego, CA majoring in Cognitive Science. He is involved in multiple clubs on campus, including a professional business fraternity which he rushed during the second semester of his freshman year.
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When I was a senior in high school, applying to colleges, and considering Michigan, the first thing people told me was that Michigan is the perfect combination of “work hard, play hard.” 18-year-old me, itching to get out of the state of Georgia and leave my naive high school self behind, thought this description was the best case scenario for my choice for college.
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When I stepped onto campus in August 2021, Michigan felt like a college mecca. Grandiose buildings were juxtaposed with bikini-clad girls and muscle-tee-wearing boys on excited jaunts to parties. Every year, there is an undoubtable disparity that showcases the double lives of so many Michigan students: people want to, and seemingly can, do it all. It is extremely common to spend the entirety of a Saturday partying and drinking into the early hours of Sunday morning, just to wake up on Sunday and spend the same amount of time locked away in the library, tirelessly chipping away at that week’s workload.
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The “work hard, play hard” culture suggests that a long few days of partying can easily be accompanied by a few days of studying. But the two are not mutually exclusive. At Michigan you can not just party — that would not be enough. You have to earn your fun. You have to work for it.
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I wanted to know if other Michigan students felt the same way, so I asked my friend KG Foley. Foley said that “work hard play hard” means that “students of Michigan don’t like half measures. Everything they do is full out.”
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What’s most intriguing about KG’s statement is that the portion of Michigan’s culture that is dedicated to grinding out homework assignments into the wee hours of the morning and then dedicating an entire weekend to debauchery is not just a product of being a Big Ten party school, but a testament to the willpower and drive of Michigan students. They are more than willing to spend their entire weekend drunk, but also not afraid to sacrifice a night out for study time.
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Much of my experience at Michigan, and that of the majority of people I know, has been dictated by involvement in Greek life. After being thrown into college, I was convinced (and maybe I still am) that the end-all-be-all of social life is Greek life. It is very easy to forget, especially when everyone around you has a similar lifestyle to you, that not everyone’s vision of “work hard, play hard” is the same.
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We must remind ourselves that the image of “work hard, play hard” at Michigan needs to be redefined both in its connotation and perception. What makes Michigan’s “work hard, play hard” culture so unique is that it seems to make space for different social desires across various pockets of campus. Foley thinks that “the culture here just helps you find who your real friends and people are” which sometimes may force you to confront an uncomfortable reality, but teaches us how to choose the people that will truly make us feel like ourselves.
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Along a similar vein, I spoke with Josh Liu, a senior at Michigan who, like Foley, is no stranger to Michigan’s expansive social life and competitive club culture.
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Professional fraternities and business clubs at Michigan are a significant social outlet for many people who choose not to be involved in traditional Greek life. However, they often serve the same purpose: bringing together a group of like-minded people and giving them a social circle with an additional emphasis on professional development.
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When I was a freshman entering the Ross School of Business, I had no idea that business frats existed. But, as soon as I attended BBA Meet the Clubs — an annual event in which students evaluate Ross clubs — I realized that these organizations boasted robust, professional networks. Because participation can be so beneficial, attaining membership is incredibly competitive. However, how are you realistically able to compete when you are a freshman with nothing on your resume and only one week at Michigan? Liu’s main critique about Michigan’s “work hard, play hard” culture is that he wishes “clubs were less exclusive and more cooperative” because “no one’s intelligence or competence should be based on which organizations they did or didn’t get into.”
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As Foley pointed out, because every student at Michigan is so driven and committed, intelligence does not necessarily distinguish someone from the crowd. Everyone is smart, everyone studies, and everyone wants to do well. The way to distinguish yourself is to signal increased campus or social involvement. That may be through a professional fraternity, a competitive investment club, an on-campus publication, Greek life, or any of the other seemingly unlimited options. There is no shortage of organizations to join, but some are considered to be more prestigious than others.
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As both Liu and Foley articulated, your value or worth at Michigan is not and should not be defined by your extracurricular involvement. Having the freedom to choose where you want to !t yourself into Michigan’s myriad of organizations, social circles, and academic concentrations rewards you with like-minded people and an ability to balance what you consider to be most important.
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Ann Arbor: The #1 College Town?
By Emily Laffey
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Ann Arbor is consistently ranked as one of the top college towns in the United States, landing at #1 just last year by Best Colleges. As a community college transfer, this is one of the many reasons I chose the University of Michigan. After doing schoolwork from my bedroom for two years, I desperately wanted the college experience that Ann Arbor offers. Ann Arbor is the University of Michigan. According to Best Colleges, the city’s population is 41 percent students. Students, along with university sta" and alumni who stay after graduation, create a vibrant community that revolves around the university. The University of Michigan takes up a huge percentage of the downtown area, in addition to North Campus and other locations spread across the city, creating a lively and dynamic town where education, innovation, and culture have the opportunity to thrive year-round.
There is a lot to be said about Ann Arbor. The town is revered for its football culture, entertainment, nature areas, and the arts. With a quick Google search, one could find breathtaking images of autumn leaves falling in the Diag, action shots from the Big House, and art on display at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Articles about Ann Arbor gush about how the city has it all. They are right; I’ve grown to love Ann Arbor and just about any other student here would say the same. However, some factors are missing from these articles.
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First off, Ann Arbor is expensive. College apartments are expensive, I know, but Ann Arbor is next-level expensive. Rent downtown goes by the thousands per roommate.
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Although there are many nonprofits and student organizations bringing awareness to this issue, such as The Michigan Daily, there is still so much work to be done. Cost is a huge factor to consider as one contemplates moving somewhere for the next few years and beyond. Even living a 10-minute drive from campus, my rent is out of my budget, and I have to work extra hours during my 18-credit semester to pay rent on time. Increasing rates are causing many students to move further from campus, distancing them from the college town experience and the community that attracted them to Michigan in the first place. This is one of the many reasons why underrepresented students, such as those who are low-income or first-generation, are disproportionately deprived of the college experience that the University of Michigan boasts.
The issue of affordability, or lack thereof, in Ann Arbor connects to another concern that took me by surprise: the large unhoused population. I knew when I transferred to Michigan that I was coming into a wealthy university and area. According to the University of Michigan’s Offce of the Provost, the operating budget of the university is more than $13 billion. After a year of living in Ann Arbor, it still makes me sick to see people sleeping on the sidewalks of an institution worth billions. While I don’t consider the unhoused population to be a factor in what makes a college town good or bad, it is representative of the many inequities that exist in the university and Ann Arbor area.
There are many factors that contribute to the unhoused crisis, but the affordability of housing in Ann Arbor is without a doubt one of them. According to Washtenaw County’s Office of Community & Economic Development, 617 people were unhoused this past June, the majority of which were categorized as families with children. There are some great programs and organizations in place to help, such as the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and its Robert J. Delonis Center, but unfortunately, it just isn’t enough. Because of Ann Arbor’s housing demand, companies are rushing to build new apartment buildings. Still, there is a major problem: affordability. For instance, studio apartments are going for nearly $3,000 in monthly rent at the new Verve apartment building downtown. Rising prices are something familiar to us at this point, though there are other reasons that housing is so disproportionately expensive in Ann Arbor.
The university is home to a largely privileged student body. According to the U-M’s Fall 2022 Ann Arbor Campus Snapshot, the great majority of the undergraduate student population has a household income greater than $150,000. Similarly, while the university states that it does not admit students based on their legacy status, this has not always been the case and some still question if legacy and connections still influence admissions decisions. These practices heavily favor privileged groups, who generally have higher household incomes and can survive rising costs. While there may be an increase in housing availability, it remains unattainable for a large portion of Ann Arbor’s students.
The University of Michigan attracts students from across the country and around the world, many of whom come to Ann Arbor for the college-town experience. The city has a lot to offer, and for some students, the cost of living is not an issue. For many people like myself, however, the college town experience comes with a seemingly unattainable price, one that popular media leaves out.
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The Costs of the College Experience Transcend Class
By Andriy Kolenov
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Nathan Walker, a native Michigander, was about to embark on an ambitious journey. He was transferring from a small and relatively unknown community college in southeastern Michigan to one of the largest and most rigorous universities in the world. Nathan expected academics at the University of Michigan to be challenging and he wasn’t wrong.
The University of Michigan is renowned as a premier educational institution. According to U.S. News, it is ranked as the nineteenth best global university, tied with Cornell University. Times Higher Education places Michigan in the twenty-third spot. Despite this, some Wolverines still believe that Michigan academics cannot be any more arduous than those of a lesser-ranked university. As an international and transfer student, I beg to differ and so does Walker. However, the institution has undeniable academic shortcomings that the administration needs to resolve in the coming years.
Walker, a mathematics major, claims that most of the lecture slides at his community college were reused each semester, down to the exact numbers. As a result, he earned easy A’s, going through classes “in autopilot without really understanding” the course material. In contrast, most Michigan professors craft their own lectures based on the latest current events and academic literature. Subsequently, Walker feels like he “retained the information well and used it” substantially in ensuing classes. Furthermore, Walker draws a stark distinction between the professors at Michigan and at his old community college. He describes the community college professors in the math department as “pretty cold,” “inconsistent,” and “not as interested in helping the students learn.”In contrast, Michigan professors are captivated by their subjects, willing to meet with you anytime, and they “really do care about you.”
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Nathan believes that the genuine curiosity of his professors in their subjects makes the classes themselves more difficult. To do well in this university, you “really have to stay on top of things.” Despite the challenge, Nathan believes that his classes at Michigan have been enjoyable. He especially enjoyed Linear Algebra with Professor Weiss and thinks that the university did an exceptional job at implementing the Inquiry-Based-Learning (IBL) teaching style. In contrast, at his community college “the fun just wasn’t there.”
Similar insights are expressed by David Gankin, an architecture major. He “absolutely loved” drawing classes with Professor Melissa Harris, such as ARCH 251 and ARCH 252. While those classes were time consuming, they were enjoyable and thus “didn’t feel unnecessarily hard.” Gankin says he now views “architecture and drawing from a whole different perspective,” an experience he might not have attained at a different school.
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To take full advantage of the immense resources the university offers, Gankin considers it critical to “put a lot of effort into the classes you find interesting” and to engage your professors as much as possible. He thinks that while “you could get by in any class by doing the bare minimum, if you actually want to learn” you must put in the maximum. You’re being educated by some of the top academics in the world, and years down the line, you might regret not learning from their decades of experience.
Despite the tremendous upsides of being a Wolverine and waving the maize and blue, there are many policies that Michigan academic departments could and should consider implementing. For one, Gankin thinks that the university has been resistant to change. Many departments have been cracking down on modern tools instead of embracing them. According to him, “now that we have ChatGPT and other technologies that help expedite how we learn and find answers, we should be using those as our base. We could have a more insightful curriculum because we’re now capable of finding information faster.”
Moreover, some students believe that the University of Michigan should scrap the distribution requirements mandated by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. The distribution requires students to take thirty credits of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, mathematics, and creative expression. These classes cannot coincide with their majors. Because students pay an exorbitant amount of money in tuition, they should have the right to elect their own classes as long as the student completes the requirements of their major. Walker does not see the practicality of knowing about the Han and Ming Dynasties for financial mathematics, and Gankin does not understand why he needs insight into the assassination of Chester LaMare during the mafia wars for designing a building. While the university initially introduced the distribution for students to pursue broader academic wisdom, the reality of class registration often leaves them choosing between only a few courses to complete distribution requirements. Many feel they would be better equipped for the real world if they had not lost time, money, and energy on a subject they don’t find particularly intriguing.
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While Michigan is still a premier institution, it has been gradually dropping in the ranks. At the start of the 20th century, Michigan ranked within or just outside the top ten US universities. Nowadays, it’s usually placed just outside the top twenty. Many argue that this is a silent consequence of the administration’s focus on non-academic activities. While sport, clubs, and non-academic programs are essential to university culture many students ultimately come to Michigan to receive a world-class education and become more qualified in their field of work. There is a difference between an answer and the Michigan difference, and it should remain that way in the future. Having an esteemed Michigan education is essential to becoming a productive member of society and maybe even improving it.