Author: Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig
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As a second-generation alum of the University of Michigan, I’ve often reflected on how this institution shaped my life. The Diag, the center of campus with its steady hum of voices calling out injustice. The lecture halls, alive with challenge and possibility. The long nights spent reading, debating, dreaming. It’s where I forged lifelong friendships,…
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There’s an old proverb: “There is no honor among thieves.” I believe it is meant to warn that alliances built on self-interest rarely survive when power, money, or ego is at stake. In public policy, we’ve seen this play out time and again—especially in spaces where opportunism, not principle, is the glue holding coalitions together. When…
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Let’s be honest about something uncomfortable. Racism is still on fire in America. On June 1, 2025, Boulder, Colorado became the latest site of a horrific act of violence in America. At 1:26 p.m., a group of peaceful marchers—many elderly—were walking through the Pearl Street Mall in their regular weekly gathering. In broad daylight, a…
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There’s a phrase I’ve been sitting with lately: Go home. Not in the literal sense—though sometimes, yes, it means exactly that. But more often, it’s something deeper. Something ancestral. Spiritual. Necessary. Because if you’ve ever been in the trenches of the field—work that demands your soul—you know how easy it is to lose track of where…
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There’s a photo of me on the internet with Santa Ono that I regret more than any other in my life. At the time, I stood beside him with pride. He was a fellow academic, a university president who championed diversity, equity, and inclusion at one of the most visible public institutions in the world—my…
Cloaking Inequity 