Too many people on this campus are wearing my clothes. That is to say, since the start of the spring semester, I have seen an inordinate number of Yalies wearing merch from the University of Michigan. It’s not uncommon to see UofM’s signature colors, deep blue and maize yellow, in far-off places (UofM has more living alumni than Vermont has people), but at Yale, I had only encountered it on a few of my fellow Michiganders. So when I came back in January and everyone seemed to be wearing the block “M”, I raised an eyebrow. I needed a second opinion. Of the 14 Yalie-Michiganders I interviewed by email for this article, 11 agreed: Yale is in a Maize Craze (three believed there was no change).
Most respondents attributed the bump to football. On January 8, 2024, the Michigan Wolverines won their first national championship since 1997. After the victory, The M Den, UofM’s official merch retailer, saw such a massive spike in orders that they hired additional staff and operated their distribution center 24/7 to keep up. “There’s nothing that drives sales like a successful football season,” M Den owner Scott Hirth told MLive, a local news conglomerate. That seems true: “I have been wearing my Michigan Rose Bowl and national championship shirts around. It is definitely a flex now!!” Mackenzie Egger, ES ’25 (Mount Pleasant), wrote. “It is a good conversation starter, especially for the football boys.”
But the Maize Craze felt larger than just a few Michiganders showing their pride. “I feel like I know a lot of people [at Yale] from Michigan, so all these people can’t possibly be from Michigan as well,” Madeline Gupta, MC ’25 (Ann Arbor), wrote. Anaiis Rios-Kasoga, GH ’25 (Lansing), agreed: “My midwestern radar doesn’t go off when I see them.”
When I met Micah Warschawski, ES ’27, my Midwestern radar did not go off. But the UofM hoodie he sported in the Davenport dining hall in early March looked well-loved: graying navy with “MICHIGAN WOLVERINES / 1817” in tattered maize slab-serif. Warschawski is a Baltimore native. The hoodie, he explained, was a re-gift from his hometown girlfriend, who had originally received it from her friend, who had wanted desperately to attend “UMich” but, alas, is a freshman at the University of Florida. He was not thinking about football when he put it on: “I like navy.”
“UMich,” as Warschawski called the University, is an easy shibboleth to clock someone from outside the Mitten. “I say U of M. If you don’t you are not from Michigan,” Annie Citron, MC ’25 (Huntington Woods), wrote. Ken Egger, UofM ’90 and UofM DDS ’94 (Ms. Egger’s father), agreed: “It’s UofM, and everyone knows what the M is.” (Sorry, universities of Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, and Montana.) We do occasionally use “UMich” (the website is umich.edu), but more often than not it’s a concession so that non-Michiganders can understand us. “I think if you are from Michigan and call it UMich you have been corrupted by the East Coast and need to do some soul searching,” wrote Avery Long, MC ’24 (Bloomfield Hills), “perhaps over a glass of Vernors bought at the Meijer nearest to you.”
UofM is alma mater to many a Coastal Elite. In 2019, MLive reported that California, New York, and New Jersey accounted for a combined 28% of out-of-state students. Each year, no less than 48% of the undergraduate population hails from outside Michigan. This is not an accident. Out-of-state students pay almost three-and-a-half times the in-state tuition rate. To maximize dollars and minimize scrutiny from the state legislature, UofM admits the largest possible minority of students from out of state. The difference in tuition rates means that the distinction between in- and out-of-staters is often socio-economic in addition to geographical. Michigan kids can spot the outsiders, the joke goes, by the Canada Goose jackets they don on the first day of sweater weather.
But the Michigan border isn’t the only dividing line. Inside the Mitten, the term “Walmart Wolverine” is used to disparage Michigan fans who did not attend the University—they bought their merch at Walmart, not the M Den. Their maize isn’t Pantone® 7406 C. Those who use “Walmart Wolverine” are suggesting that only those who made it through the admission process have earned the right to wear maize and blue. If the Canada Goose joke takes a dig at out-of-staters with deep pockets, “Walmart Wolverine” cuts the other way, mocking maize-clad graduates of Washtenaw Community College, Grand Valley State, etc.
I, a Yalie, am not a Walmart Wolverine, despite never having attended the University of Michigan. No one’s ever thought to call me it. And, despite never having attended the University of Michigan, I still judge non-Michiganders in maize and blue. They don’t get it, really, I think. Most of the Michiganders who emailed, however, had a more inclusive attitude. “The more maize the better,” Sam Harshe, TD ’25 (Dexter), wrote. “An east coaster with a block M is roughly twice as trustworthy as one without.” As Karley Yung, BK ’25 (Canton), asked, “Who am I to gatekeep our wonderful state?”
Yale enrolls 10 times more New Yorkers than Michiganders. New York state is twice as populous as Michigan. To me, wearing UofM gear on our campus says I am part of your tribe. “Every time I see maize and blue I get excited and want to talk to the wearer,” Rhea Cong, ES ’24 (Ann Arbor), wrote. “It feels like a piece of home to me. I love figuring out how people know the school and sharing in fondness for the city of Ann Arbor.” And, as Ms. Rios-Kasoga put it, seeing Yalies in the block “M” can be “a bummer when I get excited and then they’re not actually from Michigan.” They (the faux-lverines) don’t even know they’re posers; they’re just wearing a t-shirt.
To report this story, I bcc’d every Yale undergraduate from Michigan. Weirder still, they emailed me back, jumping at the chance to talk to me about the state we both love: “Maybe people have finally realized we’re the best state in the USA and are expressing their deep love for us through fashion” Sophia Graham, DC ’26 (Grosse Pointe), offered; “I pack bond with midwesterners on this campus and am always happy to meet someone from Michigan,” Matt Song, MC ’24 (Novi), wrote. “My girlfriend is from Ohio which was a slightly tough pill to swallow but I do genuinely think we get along better bc of midwestern roots.” All it took for these Michiganders to open up was my email. All I needed to say was I am a Michigander too.
If you’re a Michigander reading this, I hope we get the chance to meet and talk about the state we both love. If you see me around campus, say hello! I’ll be the kid in the gray-blue baseball cap with a faded maize M.