About 70 Ann Arbor community members gathered Thursday evening in the Ford School of Public Policy to hear U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., discuss current issues in the United States. The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government hosted the town hall as an opportunity for open dialogue with Dingell.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA junior Taylour Poellnitz-Thomas, CSG co-director of government relations, said CSG organized the town hall to create a space where students could feel that their voices were heard.
“We want to alleviate some of those questions that are not always accessible to ask in a very cohesive and conventional way,” Poellnitz-Thomas said. “It’s imperative that students do their best at advocating for their needs, and we as CSG partners definitely want to help bridge that.”
Dingell has served as a U.S. representative since 2015, succeeding her late husband John Dingell. She has represented Michigan’s 6th congressional district, which centers around Washtenaw County, since 2023. In response to a question about the future of the U.S., Dingell noted that we are currently facing a time of deep division.
“I think we’re at a crisis point in this country, and our democracy is being tested, and we have issues that we have to work on,” Dingell said. “What I’m most worried about is that we are normalizing attacking each other, we are normalizing the lack of civility and we are normalizing political violence — and that is unacceptable.”
When asked how she hopes students will help shape Michigan in the future, Dingell said it is important to hold true to good values..
“There’s one value you’re going to come out of here knowing, and that is to respect each other, to treat one another with respect and dignity,” Dingell said. “I believe our leaders have to help in being able to talk to each other, agree with each other, disagree with each other, but treat everyone with respect.”
LSA and Education senior Eric Veal Jr., CSG president, said he believes we have lost sight of working together and that collaboration is necessary.
“I think we need to ensure that we’re working together on cross-sectional issues, bringing in people who will disagree and I’m going to think about that when I’m making a key decision or choice to guide our institution,” Veal Jr. said. “Making sure there’s respect, there’s time and effort put together to create a team, but also to create an environment that is comfortable and collaborative.”
When questioned about current U.S. immigration policy and congressional approaches to supporting international students, Dingell emphasized the importance of international students and that everyone deserves a strong educational experience.
“We are losing freedom of speech in this country, and everything that you’re saying is going to be heard by somebody, and international students are afraid to leave, to go home, to be with their families because they don’t know if they’re going to be allowed back,” Dingell said. “I think international students matter, and I try to help them, make sure they’re getting help and the visa they need.”
Dingell noted threats to research funding and the steady loss of researchers as another pressing issue.
“I am very proud of the fact that I have protected (National Institutes of Health) funding at the University of Michigan, and I have protected the research going on,” Dingell said. “We are in danger of losing a generation of researchers because people don’t understand that graduate student education is being paid for by some of these research grants.”
One student asked Dingell about the University’s proposal for a new data center in Ypsilanti. She said that data centers must be thoroughly questioned as communities have the right to deliver their input.
“First of all, I think you need to be transparent and that every community has a right to have a say in what is going on in their backyard,” Dingell said. “I’m worried about protecting (the water), if one of these data centers has causes of groundwater power, how are we going to make sure that we all have the power we need? We need to ask a lot of questions.”
Daily Staff Reporter Halle Pratt can be reached at hallehap@umich.edu.
