At this point, asking “what’s going on at the University of Michigan?” feels less like campus curiosity and more like a public safety announcement.
We’ll start with football because the program can’t seem to stay out of headlines that have nothing to do with touchdowns. Former assistant coach Matt Weiss is now facing federal charges after allegedly hacking [1] into databases to access private student information (mostly women). Thousands of victims. Multiple states at more than 100 universities.
Then there’s now-former football head coach Sherrone Moore, who was fired and arrested in December after an alleged intimate relationship with a subordinate spiraled into stalking, home invasion, and criminal charges. Michigan went from “Go Blue” to “Call Your Lawyer” in record time.
And let’s not pretend this all started yesterday.
The football program is still dealing with fallout from the infamous sign-stealing scandal that earned suspensions, probation, and sanctions – including long-term penalties tied to Jim Harbaugh, who exited Ann Arbor with his reputation singed.
Zoom out beyond athletics and it’s not any better.
The university paid almost half a billion dollars in 2022 to settle sexual abuse claims tied to longtime physician Robert Anderson. More than 1,000 plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse by Anderson going back decades.
Then there’s the provost and presidential controversy in 2022. They were both shown the door over inappropriate relationships and harassment findings.
Also in 2022, the men’s hockey program faced its own misconduct probe and the coach was ousted after an internal investigation showed many things going on including misleading players about COVID-19 reporting, mistreatment of female staff and retaliation against players who attempted to improve conditions.
Leadership “reforms” were promised along the way after all of these scandals but headlines kept coming anyway.
Michigan sells itself as the “Leaders and Best” in their school fight song but lately, it looks more like a case study in what happens when when prestige becomes a shield for accepted or ignored problems. At some point, even loyal Wolverines should be asking: what exactly is broken in Ann Arbor – and who’s actually fixing it?