Question 1): What should we make of University of Michigan President Santa ONO leaving for the same job at the University of Florida after less than three years in Ann Arbor?
Answer 1): It looks like 1-800-CALL SAM is more than just a bloviating law firm. As one of the four Democratic regents who were increasingly vocal in their criticism of Ono, Mark “Son of Sam” Bernstein played a big part in spurring Ono to swap horses.
To be sure, U-M is one of the top public universities in the land, but it also stands out as one of the most politically progressive institutions in the country in both its faculty and its student body. The past three years have been a time of profound change for the University of Michigan. The role that Santa Ono stepped into in 2022 looks vastly different from what it is now, with issues like the Israel-Hamas war, DEI, rising anti-semitism, pro-Palestine demonstrations, and President Donald Trump’s threats to the funding of higher education. The politics has meant that President Ono has had to spend an increasing amount of time navigating his way among various rancorous factions (including the U-M board) rather than what he was hired to do — lead and improve an educational institution.
We can remember a time when University of Michigan presidents left for prestigious Ivy League institutions like Princeton (Harold Shapiro) and Columbia (Lee Bollinger). Michiganders’ feelings were hurt by that, but we understood and accepted it. Now we have a president skedaddling sideways (at best) just to get out of Michigan. Yes, UF is a large university system and increasingly respectable academically, but this looks like one governor (Ron DeSANTIS) poaching from another (Gretchen Whitmer). Based on what Ono has gone through during his brief tenure, who wouldn’t want to leave if given the chance?
The next big question is: Who will want the job as U-M president? Certainly there will be a bounty of candidates, but they will run the risk of being perceived as lickspittles, doing the bidding of a progressive megalopoly.
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Question 2): What is the best Secretary of State Jocelyn BENSON can hope for out of the release of her book, “The Purposeful Warrior?”
Answer 1): The book appears to be a real yawner, so the best that Benson can hope for is that its release will be politely acknowledged by the mainstream media (MSM) and then quickly overlooked and forgotten. Any excited attention it might get — like, there doesn’t appear to be any “there” there — can only be negative.
Yes, as a candidate for Governor, Benson needs to define herself beyond the bureaucratic role of Secretary of State. Her name ID is commensurate with mundane things like registering to vote and renewing a license. Her book needs to show more about who she is and her ‘vision,’ to help the average voter learn more about the person they’ve heard from for all these years in a very pedestrian way. She can expect some help from the national MSM that can raise her visibility as Michigan’s only viable Democratic gubernatorial candidate next year, but it’s hard to believe that will be enough to help her in the long run.
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This is yet another reason not to have elected U Boards. Each of the 3 elected boards have had serious issues which do not occur with the Boards appointed by Governors ( of both parties).
A republican works well when the elective offices are primarily confined to those for whom the candidates are individuals the electorate knows personally.
A republic works well when the elective offices are primarily confined to those for whom the candidates are individuals the electorate knows personally.
I am glad you made that clarification – I did a double take on the first comment.
You interestingly failed to mention Jim Duderstadt, the nuclear physicist who served as the U-M president for eight years in between the Lee Bollinger and Harold Shapiro terms.
Duderstadt held a position in the U.S. Army Missile Command before ascending to the presidency of the University of Michigan and continued peacefully as a professor emeritus at U-M up until his passing in Ann Arbor late last year.
The Duderstadt era is remembered as one of relative peace and prosperity in the university’s history.
Different Board back then with a different governor. John Engler and Larry Deitsch got along well (Engler put him on the civil service commission). Phil Power wasn’t a wingnut, and the rest of the Board seemed to at least like each other.
He got a lot of rightly deserved criticism for surrendering to Trump on DEI. If you can’t stand the heat . . . and you know the rest.
Nice article, Bill.
DID U-MICHIGAN BLOW IT WITH PRESIDENT SANTA ONO? Absolutely yes. And you’ve identified the chief culprit.
Dr. Ono was the product of a long search and brought in to bring some stability to U of M. That didn’t work out. Ono did not seem too keen on DEI and seemed more intent on focusing on educational outcomes and less on the culture war and politics fronts. That may not get him invited to the School of Social Work Christmas (or holiday) Party, but that’s ok. As for Vice Chair Bernstein, I’m not sure why he’s doing this since. It does not seem he wants to be governor anymore, but there has to be some madness in his method. I just can’t see it. Maybe he has surrendered to the Left and drunk their Kool-Aid. Or the Board of Regents is turning into the Ann Arbor City Council or Board of Education. I find it extremely odd that he would be afraid of the pro-Hamas denizens on campus – or the other assorted leftists – or even the other five Democrats on the Board. Except for Brown and possibly Acker, he’s better off financially. They can’t hurt him or his firm. If he and the U of M Board of Regents want DEI to be the hill they die on, I’m not sure that is a winning proposition.
As for Ono, he jumped ship before he was fired or hamstrung. And I’m not so sure that sliding over to Florida is a sideways movement anymore. There might be more going on in SUNY Ann Arbor than we know. As for Ono’s successor, let’s hope we don’t get the musical chairs that has been the story at Michigan State and Wayne State.
As for Secretary Benson’s book, maybe a good review from the Freep or Michigan Public Radio? As for MSM, that means they would have to read the thing and hope they can scrounge something moderately interesting that they can make a story out of. As for the gubernatorial election, I suspect that if he or his staff reads it, Mike Duggan might feel a wee bit more confident about his chances in 2026.
It will be a Duggan/John James/Benson race in November of 2026.
………….and the GOP faithful are praying that Michael Duggan does NOT drop out and endorse his fellow Detroiter Ms. Benson.
State Representative Joe Tate launched his campaign today for the U.S. Senate seat which will become open in 2026. This could increase primary participation in Detroit and among minorities.
Yes, and in a four-way race, Tate would likely get many – if not most – Democratic primary votes out of Detroit.
Hill Harper cleaned up in Detroit in the U.S. Senate Dem primary election in August of ’24 – despite losing the outstate vote badly to Slotkin.
As long as Tate and Elsayed are in the race, they can be expected to drain a large percentage of minority and progressive votes from the remaining two primary candidates in August of ’26.
Joe Tate will forever be known as the Michigan House Speaker that presided over the legislative fiasco that damaged the Dems’ reputation in Lansing as a competent party.
It may be that differences with the board were a contributing factor. But we should mentilon that it appears Ono will get double the compensation at University of Florida compared to what he was to be paid at the University of Michigan. I know, in academia, money is not the motivator that it may be in other places, but it is reflected in ego, and ego is a major factor everywhere.
The winter weather is also a lot warmer in Florida than Ann Arbor.
I have tried to send some money to you, but this new payment method turns me off. . Could you send me a private old fashioned payment method address Maia private email, if you want my support.
Michigan Medicine generated $ 7.25 billion in clinical care revenue during 2023. All other U of M activities generated $ 3.68 billion in revenues. U of M as a whole incurred an operating loss of $ 1.57 billion during 2023.
At their current cash burn rate, they will go bust within 10 years. Much sooner, if President Trump is allowed to cut U of M’s obscene indirect NIH contract charges by the Democratic District Judges who run America.
If you mean Democratic District Court judges, you are way off base. No such judge has had any impact on Michigan’s DEI program,
Angel Kelly, a Democratic activist appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by Drooling Joe Biden, permanently enjoined the National Institutes of Health from capping funding for indirect research costs at a 15% rate. The Association of American Universities, which is a plaintiff in the case, represented U of M.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, a Democrat, announced his candidacy for Michigan Attorney General today. He will be distracted from prosecuting anyone at U of M as their financials go further south.
Eli Savit declined to prosecute the pro-Palestinian demonstrators at University of Michigan that Dana Nessel chose to charge and later drop the charges.
According to published reports of one of the defense attorneys, Ann Arbor District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson was on the verge of ordering an evidentiary hearing that may have had the possibility of providing evidence of questionable behavior that would be revealed if the political forces behind the charges was investigated in court.
What has been published is a letter from the Jewish Federation of Ann Arbor – a powerful area group – that advocated for Dana Nessel to continue to be permitted to prosecute the criminal case as she was purportedly very fair and had many Arab and Muslim employees in her department. Why this group was so gung-ho as to having Nessel continue rather some other prosecutorial official raises questions in itself.
Nessel has raised questions as to why she did not prosecute the Hamtramck City Council members for election law violations and some suspect she did not want to embarrass fellow Democrats who may have supported her for her earlier runs for elected office.
The new controversy in Hamtramck is that Michigan State Police have commenced an investigation to two Bangladeshi-American City Council members as to whether or not they actually reside in Hamtramck.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has also indicated her office will NOT prosecute violations of election laws and that means the decision whether or not to bring criminal charges against any suspects who may have misrepresented their residency on candidate applications would be in the hands of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Given Nessel has passed on the ballot fraud case and tried to have the Prosecuting Attorney Coordinating Council re-assign the matter to another prosecuting official, it is highly questionable whether the MSP will have any official to prosecute any case involving residency violations that it may develop regarding Hamtramck City Council members.
Hey Bill! G’day Mate!
So, did the Derby pan out the way you expected? Did you make enough on Sovereignty to buy us all a round? Or did you donate too much to the Aussie living memorial fund? Welcome home.
Wrt Q#1: I agree with Mssr. Alexander in the first entry. There is really no need for elected boards. Appointed boards, decidedly Democratic given our Governor, seems to be working well. Even with Trump’s likely gutting of woke university funding, a receptive board will simply adjust and attack on a new front. Even far-flung Michigan Tech’s Democratic board appears to be working well.
I don’t mind Mr. Ono taking the first stagecoach outta town. Gov. Desantis will treat him well. I don’t think even University of Wisconsin or University of Indiana tips the win on progressiveness anymore compared to UM. I fear for the type of education the poor students of UM are getting. One never hears many of them making splashes in academic circles much anymore.
Wrt Q#2: I fear the wild card in the MI gubernatorial race is Rep James. While he is miles better than any gubernatorial candidate the MIGOP has put up in recent elections, I fear he just isn’t that strong a campaigner. Outside of making his usual appearances nationally on Fox or Newsmax, I just don’t see him much in Michigan. If enough unimpressed republicans cross over to Duggan, then Duggan can make it a race against the machine he helped to build.
Glad yer back Bill!
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz announced the University will cut its general fund spending by 9% over the next two years. This amounts to about $ 153 million. MSU’s current operating budget is about $3.6 billion and its general fund is $1.7 billion, Health care costs are cited as the primary reason for the massive shortfall, but MSU’s health care exposure is much smaller than U of M’s.
If this doesn’t work out, President Guskiewicz could be the next sudden departure from a Michigan university.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents appointed U of M Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso as interim president during its annual meeting in Dearborn yesterday.
The Florida Board of Governors just rejected Santa Ono for the presidency of University of Florida.