Originally conceived as a ‘clubhouse’ to centralize campus life, the Michigan Union opened its doors to students in 1907 – with one key caveat. For decades, women were barred from entering through the front door.

As with most things in life, there is more to the Michigan Union than meets the eye. Its architectural style and embellishments, recently remodeled for a 21st-century community, represent the physical remnant of an early-1900s movement to forge a new ethos for the – ahem — “Michigan Man.”

In a book of essays marking U-M’s 150th year, playwright Arthur Miller and other distinguished alumni revisit the halcyon days of college. Set against today’s digital backdrop, ‘Our Michigan’ makes a cogent and contemporary case for the bricks-and-mortar learning experience.  

To memorialize students who died in service during World War II, U-M officials sought input from such global luminaries as Winston Churchill and Orson Welles. But in the end, a new generation of students created a different kind of tribute — one that could ‘actually do something.’

After a dazzling turn with Jimmy Stewart in what would become an iconic holiday classic, Virginia Patton stepped out of the Hollywood spotlight. She traded the film industry for an illustrious life in Ann Arbor.

With a West Point diploma and two Purple Hearts, Tom Carhart, JD ’72, arrived on the Law Quad at the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement. At first, Carhart was appalled by the student protests. Soon, he joined in.

Elizabeth Farrand — historian, university librarian, and physician — was among U-M’s most accomplished graduates of the 1800s, despite the unpleasant and ‘trifling matter’ of being considered eccentric by her male counterparts.

Just after the 1909 football season, ‘The New York Times’ broke news of a scandal in Ann Arbor: Wolverine James Joy Miller, Fielding Yost’s star halfback and captain-elect, had neglected to enroll at Michigan. ‘The whole university is sick about the business,’ the paper reported.

Future literary icon Arthur Miller outperformed him in class. Playwright/author Sinclair Lewis trashed his Hopwood entry. But when an observant professor championed Edmund Love’s tenacity and native talent, the 1936 graduate wrote his way to a thriving career.