Schlissel honored with Rainbow PUSH award after year of student protest

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel was honored Monday evening as one of four recipients of the Let Freedom Ring Award at the Cobo Center in Detroit. The award was presented by the Rainbow PUSH Automotive Project, an organization founded by civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson that seeks to promote participation by people of color in the economic growth of the global automotive industry. Rainbow PUSH selected Schlissel as an honoree for making college more affordable through the implementation of the Go Blue Guarantee, as well as his strategic plan on diversity, equity and inclusion. Other recipients of the award included Bankole Thompson of The Detroit News, Flint mayor Karen Weaver and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, humanitarian leader and civil rights activist. Before awards were presented, audience members heard from several speakers, including U.S. Reps. Brenda Lawrence, D-Detroit, and Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, as well as Rev. Jesse Jackson, who accepted the award on behalf of Tutu in his absence. “While we stand here today and reflect on the history of a great man … Will they be able to say that we stood up and fought when they tried to roll back our rights and freedoms?” Lawrence said. “We talk about a dream but this is about action.”