Category Archives: University of Michigan

U of M student ventures into Ypsilanti, lives to tell the tale/Mittenfest 3

Posted on December 14, 2008 by | Leave a comment

I found this via this post at Mark Maynard’s blog: “Ypsi: the other college bar scene” ran in the Michigan Daily almost a month ago, but since I’m far from a regular reader of the Michigan Daily (while I do read Mark’s blog often enough), I am just coming across it now.

As I’ve said before and I am sure I will say again, I like and live in Ypsilanti, and I like and often visit Ann Arbor, and I don’t really have the “us versus them” thing I have seen in some in these parts, especially among folks who have lived here their whole lives. Having said that, Kristen Steagall’s opening paragraph kind of set a tone that found her take on her visit to Ypsi a little dubious to say the least:

I’m not from Michigan. But like many University students, my views on Ypsilanti were shaped before I had ever visited it. Degenerate, dirty and scary are just a few of the adjectives my peers have used to describe it. But I figured the home of Eastern Michigan University must have its own college nightlife. I decided to check Ypsi out for myself. So last Saturday, a few of my friends (emphasis on few seeing as many of my friends scoffed at the idea of going to Ypsilanti) set out to experience the city’s bar scene first hand.

Oh, good lord, U of M kids. Use some of that fine education you get over there to buy yourselves a clue.

Anyway, I think Mark’s take on the rest of the piece is pretty good so go and read that.

Oh, and the subject line for Mark’s post is about the upcoming Mittenfest III, a rock and/or roll show at The Elbow Room December 26, 27, and 28. Sounds like fun and it is a fund-raiser for 826 Michigan, but I am a bit too old and a bit too opposed to smoking to make it.

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Posted in Ann Arbor, Blogosphere, In the media..., University of Michigan, Ypsilanti

College sex stuff

Posted on December 12, 2008 by | 2 Comments

And that’s not just a catchy post title that is likely to drive a lot of search engine users who were looking for web sites on, um, “another topic.” No, I learned this afternoon both about EMU’s online sexual harassment prevention training and a rather titillating story of sex and professors at U of M.

First, there’s this from our academic neighbor to the west: “University of Michigan investigates professor’s involvement in prostitution case with law student.”

Yaron Eliav, 44, an associate professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, awaits sentencing Dec. 30 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of using a computer to commit a crime. The 22-year-old student also pleaded no contest to the same charge.

But it is actually a little more, um, “interesting” than that:
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Posted in Administrator Life, Faculty Life, In the media..., Security and Safety, Staff Life, Student Life, University of Michigan

Ann Arborites/UM Students partied on about Obama

Posted on November 5, 2008 by | 1 Comment

As the AAN reported, “Students pour into downtown Ann Arbor streets to celebrate as Washtenaw County helps elect Obama.” Go ahead and follow the link– there’s a cute little video with it, too.

Mark Maynard has a post here about a little live blogging/celebrating around Ypsi last night; any EMU campus political bashes?

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Posted in Ann Arbor, Blogosphere, In the media..., University of Michigan

Football bad news/good news

Posted on October 11, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Well, the bad news is that EMU lost a tough one at Army, a game that they were picked to win. The good news is that U of Michigan lost at home against Toledo. That combined with an Iowa win over Indiana makes for not a great but okay football day.

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Sports, University of Michigan

Say, how come the headline isn’t “U of M has hundreds of drunks”?

Posted on October 2, 2008 by | 6 Comments

Also from the AANews this afternoon/this evening, “Campus crime stats from ’07 show burglaries up at EMU.” The above graphic is the graphic featured in the AAN article. Here are the opening paragraphs from the story:

The number of burglaries reported on the Eastern Michigan University campus surged last year, while break-ins again decreased at the University of Michigan, annual reports released by both universities show.

EMU police took 123 burglary reports on campus during the 2007 calendar year – a roughly 25 percent increase from the previous year.

The number of burglaries on the U-M campus was significantly lower at 35, which continues a downward trend, the U-M report noted.

Other major crimes on both campuses remained relatively the same or decreased last year.

Now, this is a fair enough argument about theft/burglary on campus at EMU. That’s been an acknowledged problem for the last couple of years for sure, and I speak from experience since my office was broken into a couple years ago. And no doubt a 25% increase is significant. My hope is that the new police chief, more security guards, and a little more awareness on everyone’s part on campus at EMU will help (lock your doors, people!)

But I do find it curious that the AAN looks at these stats and the only story here is burglary. To me, I look at this and I think two completely different things:

  • In every other category, U of M is posting higher numbers, and some of these numbers seem to me to not merely be the result of Michigan being a much larger campus– for example, 18 aggravated assaults strikes me as way too many, something worth pointing out.
  • The numbers for drinking and drugs at U of M are through the roof. Almost nine times as many alcohol related arrests and citations?! That’s a whole bunch of drunk college kids!

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Posted in In the media..., Security and Safety, University of Michigan

FREE Friedman tickets available for U-M, WSU, and MSU; EMU not welcome (apparently)

Posted on September 12, 2008 by | 20 Comments

About a week ago, I posted here about Thomas “The World is Flat” Friedman talking at EMU and wondering how it was that this event was being advertised at MSU and there seemed no information about it here at EMU. Regular EMUTalk.org commentator Alum posted information that more or less said that EMU students can get in just like everyone else: pay the $30 fee.

Well, according to this post at The Ypsi Tattler, that’s not the complete story.
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Posted in Blogosphere, EMU Events, In the media..., Michigan State U, University of Michigan, Wayne State U

Why are there no student legal services at EMU?

Posted on September 8, 2008 by | 9 Comments

I think I know the answer to this question (“because it costs too much”), but how come we don’t have any sort of student legal services at EMU? Or do we and this hasn’t been reported accurately? I ask because of this article I stumbled across from The Daily Collegian Online, which is Penn State’s student paper, “PSU lacks legal services.”
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Posted in In the media..., Student Life, University of Michigan

U of M Gradzillas: Is there a moral to that story?

Posted on April 26, 2008 by | 4 Comments

First off and much more important that the headline/subjectline for this post, I want to congratulate this year’s graduating EMU students and their families. Way to go! I was at a function last night and I had the chance to talk a bit with the mother and brother of one of our graduating graduate students, and it really was one of those moments where I felt very good about my job, the mission of a place like EMU, our students, and the whole nine yards. So again, congrats, have fun, and good luck.

Now, there are some other graduating students at that quaint liberal arts school with the football team in Ann Arbor, the one where much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued when they were not going to be able to graduate in their beloved “Big House” and when they were going to go over to EMU and Ypsilanti (God forbid!). Not surprisingly, the AANews has a couple stories about it (well, at least the blog does– I haven’t seen the paper newspaper yet). There’s “Diag venue a first for University of Michigan commencement but not necessarily unique,” which is kind of a run-down of U of M graduation locations through the ages. More interesting perhaps is “University of Michigan’s Diag ceremony is hardly a low-budget affair,” which reports that U of M is spending $1.8 million on this alternate graduation plan on the Diag.

Say that with me slowly: one-point-eight million dollars for commencement. At “Education First,” we get year after year after year of budget cuts, and at U of M they can throw nearly two million at one day ceremony.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning that there might be a moral out there with this story, maybe some lessons that we can try to apply here at EMU.
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Posted in Faculty Life, In the media..., Staff Life, Student Life, University of Michigan

EMU Student Arrested for Stealing from UMich

Posted on March 24, 2008 by | 4 Comments

Last week, there were a couple of burglaries reported at UMich of semi-precious gems from display cases. Today they arrested an EMU student who attempted to have them appraised not too far from UMich campus. They also seized several knives and have submitted some suspected drug residue for testing from his on-campus apartment..

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Posted in In the media..., Security and Safety, Student Life, University of Michigan

AAN sports investigation part 3 (or, see part two– it’s about the same basic thing)

Posted on March 18, 2008 by | 7 Comments

Today’s Ann Arbor News investigation part 3 is “University of Michigan athletes’ ‘safe harbor’ is general studies.” I gotta say, I’m having a hard time getting too excited/worked up about this whole series.

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Posted in Academics, In the media..., Sports, University of Michigan