What does it mean that U-M’s first president, Henry Philip Tappan, wanted to turn Michigan into a “true university”? How has student activism remade Michigan over the decades? How did one of the nation’s most prestigious student literary awards come to U-M? What does it mean to be a leader and best — on the playing field or in the laboratory? And, how should you depict U-M’s history?

For its 2017 bicentennial, the University of Michigan collaborated with Detroit Public Television to produce ten mini-documentaries covering questions such as these from U-M’s history. What do those videos look like today, six years later, given numerous changes in the University and the world?

For this movie night, we will screen several videos from the series, and our panel will discuss those videos and the series as a whole. The panel will consist of Fran Blouin and Kim Clarke, who both appeared in many of the videos, and Gary Krenz, who directed the University’s bicentennial.

As with all public events at the Observatory, this movie night will include tours of the building by our student docents, with observing if weather permits.