Michigamua

The Order of Angell is a senior honor society at the University of Michigan. Known for a brief period as the Hot Air Club and subsequently known throughout the remainder of the twentieth century as Michigamua, the organization officially renamed itself the Order of Angell in 2007 in an effort to move beyond its controversial past. The organization was created in 1902 by a group of seniors in coordination with University president James Burrill Angell.

Some factions on campus identify the Order of Angell as a secret society, but many dispute that characterization. For most of the organization's history, its membership was publicly identified in the campus newspaper and yearbook; in the 1970s, however, when the group started performing its rituals in private, it effectively became a secret society for some years. Since then, the group's degree of secrecy has fluctuated year-to-year, with some classes appearing in the yearbook and others remaining unknown. Since the 2006 reforms, the Order of Angell has made a policy of keeping the roster public each year.

The group purports to be a service organization, whose goal is to "fight like hell for Michigan," although members have declined to specify exactly how they serve the University, citing a tradition of "humble service."

The group played an instrumental role in building the Michigan Union. It is also known to have had a hand in forming several prominent campus charity and service organizations, such as K-grams and Dance Marathon. In 1932 it was granted a permanent lease for space in the tower of the Michigan Union, although the group left the tower in 2000. The tower remains empty today because it does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.

Other similar societies currently in existence at the University of Michigan include a co-ed group called Phoenix, and the engineering-only group known as the Vulcans.

In its former identity "Michigamua," derived from a fictional Anishnaabe tribe, the organization had been criticized for its past practices of wearing imitations of Native American regalia in public rituals during yearly initiations of new members. There was public controversy over their mocking use of items such as "peace pipes," drums, and totems, which are sacred to many Native American religions. Many called such displays cultural appropriation or remnants of the United States' colonial legacy, while others argued that it was a way of showing respect for the University of Michigan's Native American roots. In response to outcry from the Native community, the organization stopped using Native American rituals publicly in 1972, and stopped all pseudo-Native American practices in 1989. That year, the organization signed an agreement with representatives from the Native American Student Association agreeing to abandon all Native American cultural references in their rituals and initiations.

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