On May 4, former University of Michigan president Santa Ono announced his departure from the University. The Michigan Daily spoke to students across campus to hear their opinions on Ono stepping down as president and the legacy he leaves behind.
In an interview with The Daily, Eric Veal Jr., LSA rising senior and CSG president, said he appreciated that Ono’s departure was not announced during spring commencement May 3.
“I, along with a lot of other students on campus, was very surprised to hear that President Ono was leaving,” Veal Jr. said. “I think the timing of it was very interesting. I’m glad that it did wait until after graduation, though, so the spotlight could be on students across our campus and making sure that those graduating got the due respect and the due time in the spotlight before he announced that he was leaving.”
Ian Moore, LSA rising senior and College Democrats at the University of Michigan co-chair, told The Daily College Democrats disagreed with Ono’s decision to cut diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the actions his administration took against student protestors.
“We were kind of happy,” Moore said. “But we generally haven’t really been happy with the way that President Ono had led with dismantling DEI and cutting down on student protests.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA rising sophomore Isaac Gardner said he was not surprised with Ono’s departure.
“I honestly was not surprised,” Gardner said. “I mean, his job was really a thankless job between the Palestinian protesters and then the DEI activists, both of those groups deeply opposed him, I’d say, and they made up probably the majority, definitely the majority, of the voices surrounding his job. So I think he had a pretty thankless job, and (the) University of Florida offered him a more thankful job, I would say.”
In an interview with The Daily, Rackham student Tyler Fioritto said he was dissatisfied that Ono failed to meet his goal of listening to students during his presidency, citing a lack of involvement on campus after a strike by the Graduate Employees’ Organization March 2023.
“He branded himself as the Michigan man,” Fioritto said. “That positivity and that unorthodox ‘student first’ presidency just absolutely faded the moment that the first strike for the graduate students happened. I don’t know if that was him or the regents, but at the end of the day, if he goes along with it, that’s as much his decision as it is theirs. And it was disappointing.”
In an interview with The Daily, Aidan Rozema, LSA rising junior and College Democrats co-chair, said he was greatly frustrated by how Ono silenced protesters on campus.
“DEI, Palestine, you name it, President Ono regularly and consistently expressed a willingness to absolutely trample on the civil liberties of his students, and do so in a pretty unapologetically authoritarian and brutal way,” Rozema said. “From everything between the tear gas used on protesters at the encampment to his reform of University policies to essentially give himself a blank check of power, he was a very authoritarian and anti-protest president.”
Gardner, however, believes differently with how Ono dealt with student protesters, specifically at the Diag encampment.
“I think he really tried to take more of a non-partisan approach in the beginning,” Gardner said. “I think he had more of a timid leadership. I think he was more worried about how the student body would react to certain policies. For example, when there was the encampment on the Diag, I remember that was up for almost a month, and that was a surprisingly long time, I think, considering that didn’t have a permit or anything like that.”
Moore said U-M faculty and staff were also unhappy with Ono’s presidency, specifically mentioning controversies between the administration and the GEO and Lecturers’ Employee Organization.
“I think there was definitely some friction between President Ono and the faculty, especially towards the end,” Moore said. “The Faculty Senate was very much opposed to a lot of the suppressions of free speech, if you’re including GSIs in there. There was a lot of friction between GEO and LEO and the Ono administration.”
Veal Jr. said there were areas where Ono made a positive impact, particularly regarding student well-being by promoting initiatives such as the Well-Being Collective.
“President Ono cared a lot about mental health support on our campus,” Veal Jr. said. “One thing I really hope is that things like (the) Well-Being Collective and other things like that continue in the momentum that they have.”
Rozema also said he appreciated Ono’s expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee, which allows low-income in-state students to qualify for free tuition.
“One thing that comes to my mind is the expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee,” Rozema said. “It’s nice that part of being a country of opportunity is making sure that every citizen has access to a high-quality education, and the Go Blue Guarantee certainly helped towards that.”
Gardner expressed how he liked Ono’s stance on free speech and that it needs to evolve.
“I think conservatives were able to express their voices,” Gardner said. “They were certainly not the majority. And you definitely have something to lose if you say you’re conservative… I did appreciate his strong stance on free speech. He did create a report and a vision for free speech for the university that I appreciated. Directionally, it was the right thing. Of course, there’s more work to be done.”
Veal Jr. said he hopes the next University president will prioritize student engagement.
“This next president should focus a lot on building relationships with students,” Veal Jr. said. “I think the next president should take time to go to different student events, as well as make every opportunity to uplift voices of students, which should mean working with students to bring their voices to the Board of Regents or having students inside of leadership meetings. I think students should be at the table, at every table that the University has, because students are at the bedrock of what the University is.”
Daily Staff Reporter Kayla Lugo can be reached at klugo@umich.edu.
