I think so too. And I know the LEAD came through the Alum Association. But not only were the optics beyond bad and the effects on individual students close to unforgivable, but it reeked of pressure from central administration, whether true or not. They raised money one day and ended the next

That would be great. My only point was that President Ono only mentioned a few initiatives, all to the rural north. Important, for sure, because rural/suburban/urban diversity matters, but not likely to expand commitments to African Americans

Right, but to the degree that’s true I read it as the sad reality that it takes a lot longer to get people to really talk even if one can get them to the table. DEI programs have been better at getting people in the door.

I would completely agree with the second part of your statement

Actually if you dig into the numbers it is. It does mean disaggregating the two or more category and looking at which two. If one does that it turns out the entering 2024-25 class was around 9.5% African American, for example. There was a big drop in African American numbers when two or morecame

Then why did President Ono (though noticeably not the five Regents) only talk about extending Wolverine Pathways to the rural northern communities. Surely not a bad thing, but not exactly designed to increase the enrollment of underserved African Americans

Fourth, why would anyone think that increasing diversity would lead to anything other than more friction?! No friction comes from everyone thinking and being the same. If you put say supporters of Israel and supporters of Gazans in the same space, they may not see eye to eye. That’s diversity

Third, as even the Regents have admitted, the Bridges program, the Go Blue initiative, and the stomped on LEAD Scholars program have all contributed in real ways to the university.

Second, the Collegiate Fellows program brought some amazing faculty members to UM, enhancing not only the diversity of the faculty but the academic excellence.

What you are saying is just factually incorrect. It seems like you are parroting the misleading information in the NYT article. Some contrary facts are first that this year’s entering class was per haps the most diverse ever, with African Americans and Latino-Americans reaching historic highs.