University Capital Campaigns: Fundraising for the 1%

Unmasking the elitism and injustice behind higher education’s false advertising

University of Michigan launched its new capital campaign yesterday. Titled, “Victors for Michigan,” the ambitious campaign aims to raise $4 billion, the largest fundraising drive for a public institution ever.

I’m a Michigan student. I love Michigan. And I completely understand the value of philanthropy. But the campaign managed to piss me off for 3 reasons.

1. This picture above. Being a victor for “moral antigayism” is not what I perceive to be part of the Michigan experience. What the hell is “moral antigayism” anyway? Yes, freedom of speech. I get that. But it doesn’t mean freedom to oppress. For the time being, we took matters into our own hands:

We’re not proud of this first one, but there were members of the LGBTQQ community seated around this student. And we felt compelled to act.

You would think that the University of Michigan would do something about this. As a student here, my humble opinion is that they’re not doing enough. See number 2.

2. Take a look at some of these short promo videos that Michigan released for this campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mcf4UiaYQA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5J9tcRuX9U

We want the “very brightest, most exceptional students” to come to Michigan. The 1%.

I watched these videos. And I felt proud. But I also felt very very pissed off. I’m pissed off because this is only half the story of Michigan. I felt pissed off because not everyone can say that the Michigan experience has been completely positive. The video is not talking about mental health. The video is not talking about the stress and the sleep that we sacrifice to “be” a Victor for Michigan. Those of us that are perceived to be more of a victor than others may sacrifice our health more than others do. And that’s something we have to talk about.But most importantly, what this video does not show… is what about the rest of us not featured in this video. What about us that aren’t the best and brightest? What about those who struggle with mental illness just to stay in school? What about those who have to work 40 hours a week to stay in school so we can’t do any extracurriculars? Can we still be victors?

What about those who wasn’t fortunate enough to find something they love? If we are a little lost, can you blame us when you seldom give us direction? What about those among us who are so passionate and work our butts off but aren’t quite at the top? Where’s our place, Michigan?Yes, there are the greats among us. There are world changers. There are passionate change agents. There are very very smart people. But the system is stacked against us — against our wellbeing, against our sanity, against our yearning to care less about grades and more about our love for science. So yay for those who are lucky enough to beat the system or work with it. But for us who are stuck, we will be pissed off.It’s great that you showcase your 1%. As long as you don’t pay more attention to the 99%, I’m going to be pissed off. And I will fight the system until the death of my soul.

3. Michigan is a public university. With a public mission. A public mission to create a better world. A public mission to ensure that the 99% of us have an opportunity to follow our dreams as the 1% does. A public mission to reduce inequality, to provide service to the community, to uphold justice. At the campaign kickoff yesterday, Michigan highlighted the gifts to the Athletics Department and the Ross School of Business as gifts that embody our public mission. I don’t think I need to say more about why this is just not right.

Dear donors and alumni,

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not adversarial to Michigan or higher education. I am adversarial to elitism and injustice. My message is not to abandon this campaign. In fact, it is the opposite. We need you to be Victors for Michigan and to be victors for your institution. But not just in the severely limited ways that the videos offered. Sometimes your gift speaks louder than our demands. We need you to engage with the university about the kind of change we want to create with your gift. We need you to demand the university to give you a more accurate depiction of the faults of our education system and not just the success stories. We need you to ask why members of the LGBTQQ community still feel unsafe. We need you to ask why sexual assault perpetrators still go unpunished. We need you to tackle those egregious cracks in our system more than the cracks in our buildings.

Thank you for hearing me out today. I welcome any conversations around the issues I raised.