24 | JUNE 4 • 2020 

O

akland County Clerk/
Register of Deeds Lisa 
Brown opened her 
office by appointment only on 
May 26. 
Brown, a member of 
Adat Shalom Synagogue in 
Farmington Hills, has served 
as Oakland County’
s Clerk/
Register of Deeds since 2013. 
She continues to encourage the 
community to take advantage of 
the online and mail-in services 
still available but understands 
that some business needs to be 
conducted in person.
“The reason why we’
re open-
ing by appointment only and 
not just completely reopening is 

to make sure we are practicing 
social distancing,
” Brown told 
the Jewish News. “We’
re just 
trying to ensure my staff’
s safe-
ty and the safety of people we 
serve by spacing out appoint-
ments.
”
Brown also 
wants to make sure 
the people in the 
community who 
might not have 
internet or who 
aren’
t comfortable 
using the online services can use 
the services of their office and 
make them more accessible.
The Oakland County Clerk/
Register of Deeds office is 

responsible for vital records/
life events and services, legal/
court records and register of 
deeds/property and land. Some 
services, including obtaining a 
new concealed pistol license and 
passports, are not available since 
the governmental agencies that 
help with those services are not 
open or taking applications.
“We rely or partner with these 
other departments or govern-
ments to provide those services,
” 
Brown said. “If they aren’
t open, 
then it doesn’
t make sense for us 
to do our part because then that 
person is just in limbo.
”
The clerk’
s office is enforcing 
the proper safety measures by 

taking everyone’
s temperature 
when they walk into the build-
ing, asking them preliminary 
questions, marking the floor 
to provide 6 feet of distance 
between everyone, enforcing 
everyone to wear a mask when 
they walk in and also having 
plexiglass separate the employ-
ees from the customers. 
Residents of Oakland County 
who wish to make an in-person 
appointment must head to the 
Oakland County Clerk’
s website 
to find the correct phone num-
ber for each division. The web-
site will also inform residents on 
what services are available for 
in-person appointments. 

O

akland University plans 
to freeze tuition costs for 
the upcoming Fall 2020 
semester due to the coronavirus 
pandemic, President Ora Hirsch 
Pescovitz announced May 22. 
This plan advocates for a 
zero percent tuition 
increase and will 
be presented to the 
Board of Trustees at 
its June 15 meeting, 
where it will vote on 
whether it will be 
implemented. 

“We are thinking about our 
students and their families. Pretty 
much everybody is in the middle 
of some kind of economic hard-
ship or experiencing some sort of 
budget shortfall,
” Pescovitz told 
the Jewish News. 
 For the 2019-2020 school 
year, according to its website, the 
total cost of attending Oakland 
University was around $27,370 
for freshmen and sophomores 
who were in-state residents who 
lived on campus.
Oakland University’
s tuition 
includes a no-fee tuition pricing, 

meaning that there are no park-
ing fees, no technology fees, no 
athletic fees, no online course 
fees and no lab fees. This no-fee 
tuition policy allows for students 
to know right away what their 
tuition cost will be and not be 
surprised by hidden fees.
“Tuition is one of those 
things that is obviously a major 
financial burden. Every year, in 
Oakland’
s history, we’
ve always 
had a tuition increase,
” Pescovitz 
said. “We’
re thinking about our 
students’
 budgets and our fam-
ilies’
 budgets. Most of our stu-
dents work. Over 85% of our stu-
dents are employed, but many of 
them have lost their jobs, just like 
many other families may have 
lost their jobs. We want to do 
whatever we can to help them.
”
Oakland University has also 
been focusing on trying to get 
students the best possible finan-
cial aid packages. Pescovitz told 
the JN that, on average, about a 
third of students’
 total tuition is 
covered by grants, awards and 
scholarships. 
“This year, I expect it to be 

significantly more than that, 
and part of that is because we 
were fortunate enough to receive 
funding from the CARES Act, 
the stimulus package which 
provides funding to higher edu-
cation institutions to provide 
financial aid grants to qualifying 
students,
” Pescovitz said. “We’
re 
also distributing funds from the 
Oakland University COVID-19 
Relief Fund to students to help 
with support.
”
The university is working on a 
reopening plan for students, fac-
ulty and staff to safely return to 
campus this fall. The plan entails 
personal health assessments 
for students, enforcing social 
distancing, wearing of masks 
throughout campus, and all cafe-
terias and eating facilities will be 
a grab-and-go style.
“For me, the health and safety 
of our campus, students, faculty 
and staff is even more important 
than education,
” Pescovitz said. 
“Simply because we can’
t educate 
our students if our campus is 
not safe. Safety is of the utmost 
importance.
” 

County Clerk 
Office Reopens

Residents can take care of business
by appointment only.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

VIA FACEBOOK

Lisa Brown

Jews in the D

Oakland University 
Plans to Freeze Tuition 
for Fall Semester

The university also says it will reopen 
campus this fall.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Ora Hirsch 
Pescovitz

OU

Oakland 
University

