Shirley Wheeler Smith was Michigan’s classic behind-the-scenes man in 1949 — chief financial officer, liaison to the Regents, and all-around troubleshooter — until he wrote an ‘America’s-Pastime’ story that took him to Hollywood.

Reports of sexual and gender-based misconduct on the Ann Arbor campus in fiscal year 2021 increased slightly, as did the number of investigations conducted by the University, according to the annual report by U-M’s Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office.

Lately it’s been hard to find the steadfast loyalty to Michigan that many of us have felt for much of our lives. Alumnus and ‘Michigan Today’ historian James Tobin considers the ways we can reassert our faith in institutions, including U-M, in good conscience.

In 1965, U-M professors took the lead in stirring national opposition to the war in Vietnam. Their example inspired a new form of campus protest nationwide.

Providing sticky notes and pens, U-M senior Sara Fess asked customers at M36 Coffee Roasters in Ann Arbor to imagine a world without sexual violence, followed by the prompt: What would be different? “Everything,” wrote one person.

The University of Michigan and attorneys for approximately 1,050 claimants who have alleged abuse by the late Dr. Robert Anderson announced they have reached a settlement agreement that would resolve all of those survivors’ claims against the University.

President Mary Sue Coleman said she is confident students, faculty, staff, and alumni will come together “to advance the values and the excellence that define the University of Michigan” as it moves forward after the removal of former president Mark Schlissel.

Some people believe our destiny is written in the stars. But for the families of Megan Rubiner Zinn, BA ’88, and Fred Zinn, it was written in the text of a 1946 admissions letter produced on a manual typewriter with a wonky ‘e.’

No, it wasn’t designed as a fortress against student radicals. But it could have been, based on architect Alden Dow’s ‘Michigan Modern’ aesthetic. The administration’s homely headquarters has gained few admirers since opening in 1968; now it’s staring down the wrecking ball.