The Michigan Daily is the daily student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other student groups, but shares a university building with other student publications on 420 Maynard Street, north of the Michigan Union and Huetwell Student Activities Center. In 2007, renovations to the historic building at 420 Maynard were completed, funded entirely by private donations from alumni. To dedicate the renovated building, a reunion of the staffs of The Michigan Daily, the Michiganensian yearbook, and the Gargoyle humor magazine was held on October 26–28, 2007.

The Michigan Daily is published in broadsheet form five days a week, Monday through Friday, during the Fall and Winter semesters. It is published weekly in tabloid form from May to August. Mondays contain a lengthy SportsMonday Sports section. On Thursdays, the paper publishes an extended arts section called The B-side. Wednesdays include a magazine, originally titled Weekend Magazine. In the fall of 2005, the magazine was renamed The Statement, a reference to former Daily Editor in Chief Tom Hayden's Port Huron Statement. Daily print circulation is currently over 18,000 copies, with over 230,000 unique visitors per month to its website.

Michigan (ⁱ/ˈmɪʃɨɡən/) is a state located in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit. Michigan was admitted into the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.

Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.

Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination. There is also a variety of natural resources to be found there, including a sizable amount of iron ore.

Thomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden (born December 11, 1939) is an American social and political activist, author, and politician, who is director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Culver City, California. Best known for his leadership role in the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s, Hayden is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of their son, actor Troy Garity.

Tom Hayden was born in Detroit, Michigan, to parents of Irish descent. He graduated from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan, class of 1956. He later attended the University of Michigan, where he was editor of the Michigan Daily and, disenchanted by the anti-radicalism of existing groups like the National Student Association (later revealed to be a CIA front), was one of the founders of the influential New Left student activist group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Hayden became one of the most prominent figures in the Sixties New Left movement and one of the most visible and outspoken opponents of the War in Vietnam.