Editor’s note: This editorial is the third entry in a longer series examining the University of Michigan’s new disciplinary system, as well as the key players within that system. You can read the full series here.
The University’s new disciplinary apparatus didn’t emerge out of a vacuum. Before 2024, students had access to a fairly robust justice system. The accused party could request a jury of their peers in the form of a student panel and even object to the initial ruling before an appeals board. This process, while flawed, worked relatively successfully for years.
It was put to the test by a series of controversial protests at the Alexander G. Ruthven Building in November 2023 and the 101st Honors Convocation in March 2024. Following the demonstrations, many of the participants were charged with violations of the rules. Some reached plea agreements, and others fought the allegations. As one would expect from a functioning judicial system, the verdicts were a mixed bag: Some students were found guilty while others were not.
The University wasn’t satisfied, so Martino Harmon, Vice President for Student Life, intervened. According to the protesters, he personally overturned every single one of the not guilty findings, including the cases where the administration had lost its appeal. This Editorial Board can find no other reports of the VPSL invoking this authority, and Harmon’s decision to wield it so aggressively removed any pretense of impartiality from the disciplinary process. He tampered with a largely effective system to achieve the administration’s preferred outcome — an unsavory task that he has since outsourced to a new employee.
Enter Donovan Golich.
With institutional backing, Golich has overseen the rapid dismantling of justice at the University. The fact-finding exercises that define a trial — the presentation of evidence, alongside the calling and cross-examination of witnesses — have been reduced to mere formalities.
We’ve already discussed how the University refuses to grant the accused party access to potentially relevant facts of their case. But even if students manage to somehow overcome this barrier and craft a compelling defense, a guilty verdict would still be inevitable.
The consequences are real. Students’ academic and professional careers are on the line, while the Office of Student Conflict Resolution and Office of Student Accountability perform a crude imitation of a fair system.
You can spot the fraud from a distance. The accused no longer have access to a jury of their peers. When Golich denied student panels to the protesters who chose to fight their OSCR charges, he cited a shortage of trained panelists. A fair point, but only half the story. Rackham student Jared Eno’s case only recently ended, and the next panelist training is scheduled to take place on Nov. 14. The University was willing to wait when it let the six-month statute of limitations on the protesters’ cases expire before bringing charges. Golich could have waited too.
There were no reports of a shortage of panelists after the protest at the 101st Honors Convocation last year, and the demonstrators still had their requests denied. The University made its intentions clear then. For Eno and the other members of his group, Golich was just exploiting a convenient excuse.
In place of a student panel, a Resolution Officer considers Golich’s recommended sanctions. This lone adjudicator is nominated by faculty but generally defers to OSCR. The RO rubber stamped Golich’s desired guilty finding in all of the recent protest cases. The fix is in: The University’s operatives don’t stand in the way when the University wants a guilty finding. Harmon didn’t — and won’t — have to intervene again.
“Build Trust. Promote Justice. Teach Peace.” This phrase is written in bold letters on the first page of OSCR’s website. It’s hard to imagine a more ironic statement, and we trust that isn’t lost on the administration. But if it’s between a change in course and a change in slogan, we anticipate a change in slogan first.
So, who is Donovan Golich? He is the University’s fixer. He’s not a loose cannon; He’s a hired gun. And the University will deploy him to violate any precedent, any policy, any principle to find a student guilty.
This editorial represents the opinion of The Michigan Daily’s Editorial Board. If you are interested in submitting an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor, please send your submission to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
