Wynton Marsalis calls on UM grads to bridge societal divides

Ann Arbor — World-class jazz musician Wynton Marsalis told the University of Michigan's class of 2023 that he would have preferred to keep things "light and breezy" at their commencement ceremony in The Big House Saturday morning.

The renowned trumpeter said he'd love to stand before the thousands of graduates and blow a few tunes but the precarious moment at which they have earned their degrees demands attention and intervention.

"In this time, the tearing apart of families the battling of genders and unrestrained vilification of 'the other' has become a public sport," Marsalis said as he addressed thousands of 2023 graduates and their families. "You're actually a bridge, a powerful translator between the generations of your family, of this institution and of our way of life. ... The deeper the divide, the more crucial the need."

The graduates need to stand flexible yet firm as they bridge transitions between different crises and ways of life, Marsalis said.

"You are the avant-garde of our optimism," Marsalis said. "Your collective success will mean that this education has been brought to bear to solve the pressing and overwhelming problems of our time."

Marsalis encouraged graduates to not become numb to the unacceptable. He called out "contemptuous corrupt leadership" in all political parties as well as "fraudulent news outlets," drawing applause from the graduates and their friends and families in attendance.

"The headlong descent into shameless decadence and unchecked commercialism has created an anxiety and an isolation that is increasingly destroying the mental health of our young," he said. "It's causing us to murder each other over minor disputes, to gun down young children in schools, to desire empty transactional lives and ultimately, to interface more easily and meaningfully with gadgets and devices than with people."

Marsalis was the main speaker and received an honorary degree from the university along with President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman, Phil Hagerman, a pharmacist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Dominique Morisseau, a playwright and actress

Marsalis's address was preceded by three student speakers and several members of the university administration and faculty.

The College of Literature, Science and the Arts' Dean Anne Curzan was interrupted in the middle of a speech on the power of words when a plane flew over the Big House, pulling a large banner that read "Congrats! So proud! Love from striking GSIS!" The banner drew loud cheers and applause from the graduates along with more than a few confused looks from parents in the audience.

The university's graduate employees organization, which represents over 2,000 graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants, has been on strike since March 29. The union held informational pickets outside the Big House prior to commencement starting Saturday morning.

The goal of the picketing was to inform parents and students about GEO's working conditions and wages, said Lucy Peterson, a Ph.D. candidate in the political science department and union officer. They also wanted to show support for their graduating students, many of whom instructors haven't seen in a month since the strike began.

Several faculty members as well as members of the university's history department have pledged to withhold undergraduate final grades until May 12 as a form of protest and solidarity with the GEO.

"Withholding grades is a big part of the strike so we have a lot of GSIs doing that and then there's a lot of faculty members doing that as well," Peterson said. "The people ... withholding their grades, even if they're not GSIs, has been a major way of supporting the strike."

The GEO's contract expires on Wednesday and the union has been in negotiations with the university since November. Sticking points include negotiations over salary, which has been the most contentious issue, according to the university.

Tensions have been rising between the GEO and university administration, particularly UM's new President Santa Ono. Graduate worker's pay for the month of April was cut last week because the employees have been on strike and a group of GEO workers interrupted Ono's private dinner at a restaurant downtown last Thursday. Two graduate students were detained for refusing to let Ono's car move.

Ono spoke at Saturday's commencement ceremony and addressed the class of 2023's ability to adapt. Their first year at the University of Michigan was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"You have also been tested in unexpected ways through COVID-19 to find unexpected reservoirs of adaptability, endurance and resilience," Ono said. "You have come through that test even as you've overcome so many other exams."

After spending his entire sophomore year in virtual classrooms, recent graduate Osama Al-Dahan never thought he'd return to the Big House. The 22-year-old Detroit native graduated from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts with a degree in sociology on Saturday. He walked into the Big House as an undergraduate student for the last time and left feeling accomplished.

"It's both overwhelming and mind-boggling but at the same time ... you kind of feel the long journey," Al-Dahan said. "Interactions with your classmates or teachers, I feel like that's kind of what makes your stay here valuable."

Despite a rainy start to the ceremony, students across all of the university's schools and colleges were recognized by Ono and their individual deans with the sun shining down by the end. In a parting plea to the class of 2023, Marsalis asked them to spend their lives turning their dreams into reality.

"Today's commencement, down to the placement of chairs on this dais, is the result of a collective dream called the University of Michigan," Marsalis said. "This democracy cost a lot of people a lot. It would be a tragedy of historic proportions to squander that inheritance because our young couldn't envision an America better than the mess we've made of it for you."

hmackay@detroitnews.com