Regent Jordan Acker on Friday's MGoRadio (Recap)

I know some people don't listen to the Friday pod. Life and what not. Personally I love all my MGoAudio. That said, the guys did a particularly interesting interview that I think is definitely worth a listen. Great work team.

Regent Jordan Acker joined the pod. Here's a little recap but you should definitely check the whole thing out if you have time. Interview starts around 32:40.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43wJN80ZR6g

On NIL

Recently attended the Michigan Sports Business Conference. Went most interested in seeing the NIL presentation that Jared Wangler did, with Hunter Dickinson and some other leaders in the NIL space outside of Michigan. Pleasantly surprised to hear some positive comments from student athletes, especially Hunter. Makes me feel we're headed in the right direction even if we're still a little bit behind.

Two topics when someone stops him on the street (depending on their age demographic) either "stop having night games" or "let's talk about NIL".

80% of what you read in the media isn't true or is exaggerated. WRT NIL - everybody feels like everyone else is doing it better. Uses TAMU as an example, everyone uses their program as an example, but if you look at what they're getting outside of football, other sports, women's athletes, Olympic athletes, it's almost nothing. People are understandably nervous, but ultimately there's a renewed sense of optimism especially since President Ono.

On Santa Ono

Believes Ono will have a big impact (esp. with regards to athletics/NIL). He's been the President of two major Universities, and while there's a learning curve, he understands how to operate a Univ. of this size and caliber.

One of the things SO specifically said is that "I want to be the best at everything. I want the best academics. The best athletic medical center. I want the best athletics. Period. And that means competing for and winning National Championships in Football. This is Michigan." And I think he's been focused on it. He's mentioned it in interviews. We've spoken about it privately. I'm confident that he and Warde are going to get this right.

Independent Compliance Office 

Spoke about the new independent compliance office for sexual harassment etc. Spoke to the nature of an independent office, and why its now a dual report both to the general counsel and the board.. It's important because there's a lot of fear in these situations. Fear of who they're reporting to. Gave example of prior to 2012 it reported to the Provost and the issues with that. We're now doing best practice policies among AAU schools.

Credit to Santa for pushing this to regain trust and driving it home. Michigan should be the model for this.

Pay Parity for Lecturers at Satellite Campuses

A lot of the issues that involve labor over the past few years, the lecturers were getting "screwed." They were being paid terribly for a University of our size. So, the board pushed to move up to a living wage. And we want to go beyond advancements of 2018 and 2020.

The relationships were not there. It's gone on a long time at Michigan. The wonderful thing about Santa is having a moment to reset. One of the reasons we hired Santa was his ability to build these relationships. I know that he's been speaking to labor leaders and will continue to engage. From my viewpoint, there's been no relationship until they're at the bargaining table. Nobody trusts each other. Nobody feels like they can have honest conversations... until we're 10 minutes from a strike, then they have to backchannel to figure it out. I think it's better, and I think the President agrees, to have better relations. And I think there's a better way to go about it.
 

Skyrocketing Housing Costs in Ann Arbor

Brian: There's an opportunity to build a significant amount of housing. Historically the city and the University have not good relations. It feels like this is an equity issue that has gone completely unaddressed by the University. Build a dorm here and there, but in terms of opening up the city for the number of students they enroll, they've kinda fallen down on the job.

Jordan: I think that's fair. I'd like to see the University have a serious housing build. We really haven't had a build since the 60's at this point. If you go up to North Campus there's tons of space. There are places in Central Campus to look at. We have increased the number of students on campus without including the housing stock. 

My 2 second pitch: We should also consider the future of Mary Markley (and how it should not exist anymore. Spoken like a true Alice Lloyd resident). 

The founders of the University made a mistake. They built the medical center on a hill. Which means you don't have enough room around it for parking and adjacent medical buildings that other Universities are able to build. So, we're kind of stuck now. It seems the smartest and easiest thing to do is to move those beds, and then to have more beds. 

We've increased the size of our classes an we need to house them. The building on South U has concerned me, not because it's not beautiful, but the price of housing is out of control and the University can help that. 

It is important that the University is a good neighbor. Pivots back to Santa and that he's done this at UBC and Cincinnati. 

One Last NIL Chat

Interest of everyone that Michigan has a great NIL program. Athletes that come here are going to be attracted to our NIL program.

Shouts out Jared Wangler. People don't understand that without Jared working 20 hours a day, Michigan would have had nothing. To be the first school in the country to have an NIL store actually in the stadium is about his hard work, is about his hard work. Alabama just put that in 4 weeks ago. Are we behind? We're not "giving guys the bag." But at the end of the day we have the best marketing program. And that's why attitudes about NIL has improved. Especially among student athletes. Also they're getting paid!